UNO turns 50 years old this year and to celebrate its golden anniversary, the classic card game has teamed up with popular Japanese streetwear brand A Bathing Ape (BAPE) for limited-edition UNO deck and BAPE apparel.
The UNO BAPE Deck draws inspiration from the worldwide cultural influence of the fashion brand created by Nigo, the DJ of the Japanese hip hop group Teriyaki Boyz. Adding serious streetwear flair to game night, the UNO BAPE Cards have a linen finish and feature the BAPE brand’s signature characters and designs. The packaging even has interior printing, making it one of the fiercest-looking UNO decks ever made.
Priced at $25, the UNO BAPE Deck is now exclusively available at the Mattel Creations website.
The collaboration between UNO and BAPE doesn’t stop at the primate-inspired deck. As mentioned above, BAPE also designed two limited-edition t-shirts that feature the brand’s take on the world-renowned card game. Both UNO BAPE T-Shirts are also available exclusively at MattelCreations.com for $115 each.
The UNO card game was originally developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins in Reading, Ohio. He initially spent $8000 to have 5000 copies of the game made when his family and friends got hooked on the game. He sold it first from his barbershop, and eventually, local businesses started to sell it as well.
Robbins later sold the rights to UNO to a group of friends headed by Robert Tezak, a funeral parlor owner in Joliet, Illinois, for $50,000 plus royalties of 10 cents per game. With offices behind his funeral parlor, Tezak formed International Games, Inc. to market the game. Fast-forward to 1992, International Games became part of the Mattel family of companies and UNO has been a Mattel brand ever since.