S'pore company creates CNY-themed Uno parody in response to US mahjong tiles debacle

Meant for "stylish Chinese masses".

Jane Zhang | January 08, 2021, 05:04 PM

An American company that claimed it wanted to give a "respectful refresh" to the game of "American mahjong" came under fire for its culturally-ignorant appropriation of the traditional Chinese game.

In response to the backlash, a local marketing firm in Singapore has parodied the incident by proposing their own "remake" of a popular American card game, Uno.

Number cards in Chinese

In a Facebook post on Thursday (Jan. 7) night, Singaporean marketing firm Grimm & Company announced their parody game, "你没有" (you don't have) U-NO.

This game of "Chinese Uno", they said, was meant for "stylish Chinese masses", and would be sold for for USD$425 (S$563.37).

The parody set comes with number cards written in Chinese rather than in numerals.

Photo via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Special CNY cards

The proposed Chinese Uno also includes a few special Chinese New Year-themed cards.

For example, these two cards help with managing difficult situations with relatives:

Photo via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Photo via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

And these two can help you get more money in the form of red packets:

Photo via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Photo via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Many potential buyers

The parody game seems to have garnered a number of enthusiastic prospective customers online, although some had some concerns about the proposed price.

Screenshot via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Screenshot via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Screenshot via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Screenshot via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Screenshot via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

A few even threw in their ideas for how to improve the game even further:

Screenshot via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

Screenshot via Facebook / Grimm & Company.

You can see the original Facebook post here:

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Top photos via Facebook / Grimm & Company.