Skip! Reverse! Wild card! Draw four! There really is no card game out there quite like the classic UNO, now celebrating its 35th Anniversary in grand fashion with an Xbox Live Arcade game from the creators of Hexic. How can a tabletop card game like UNO translate to a video game so well? Pull up a stool and grab a hand while I tell you.

If you've never played UNO, here's the basic breakdown: The game abandons traditional cards for an UNO deck featuring numbers 0-9 of yellow, red, green and blue (no suits). The first player puts one card down, let's say a red 5, and the next player must play any red card or any colour number 5. If they have no playable cards then they must draw one from the deck. Where the game gets fun is with the number of special cards, including a wild card that can play on anything, a draw two attack card, a card to reverse the direction of play, a card to skip the next player, and the ultimate: the draw four wild card.

What makes UNO on Xbox Live Arcade an instant classic is how well this has been implemented. If you're like my family then with many games you may find ways to play that you enjoy more than the traditional rules - small modifications to the rules that make for a better game, in other words. In UNO, the host has the ability to change any option in the rules and create their own version of UNO. They can decide if players have to call out UNO when on their last card, dictate if draw two cards result in a player instantly drawing two or allowing them to place another draw two card down and double the punishment for another player, or create a whole new kind of UNO using the elimination style rules and the all-new "35th Anniversary" card, created especially for this version. No matter how you play UNO, you can reproduce it by altering the settings here, even deciding how many points a player must get to win or if you win instantly after one hand, as well as turning bluffing on or off.

The wild card draw four card is traditionally not meant to played unless you have no other card you can put down. Somewhere along the lines UNO bluffing came about, where players would put down the card despite having another playable card. The person receiving the draw four would challenge this if they had the guts, and if right they'd reverse the draw four onto the player. However, if they're wrong, they have to draw even more cards from the deck! This is fully included in UNO if the host so desires and really ramps up the overall strategy, or art, of playing UNO.

Furthermore, UNO supports full stat-tracking and a ranking system, and the way the game handles players is both seamless and brilliant. You can launch an online game with three other computer AI players, which are actually extremely good at the game, and any player can jump in and instantly pick up the computer's hand at any time (unless you have the seat reserved!) If a player leaves, the computer simply takes over until someone new joins.

Graphically and sound wise UNO also delivers with high marks. The game's bright and pleasing colours make it an absolute joy to watch and the cards have nice little animations and effects when played that make them stand out but aren't at the same time aren't too distracting. Although most gamers will stick on their own music, I quite enjoyed the new age background music of UNO, complete with classical guitar and tunes you're likely accustomed to hearing in a supermarket or lift; it meshes with the vibe and atmosphere of the game beautifully.

UNO is fast, pretty, and incredibly user-friendly. It's a perfect fit for Xbox Live Arcade and the ultimate chill out game to just relax with a few friends while you play a classic card game. At a measly 400 points, this is easily the best bang for your virtual buck in the entire Arcade - every gold account on Xbox should have this on their hard drive!

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).