The Role of Non-Digital and Digital UNO-Type Card Games as Learning Media in Different Levels of Mathematics Education: A Systematic Review
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The systematic review explores the number and role of the UNO® card game and UNO-type learning media across different levels of mathematics education. UNO® inspired games have gained recognition as innovative pedagogical tools that promote engagement, motivation, and active learning among students in various mathematics topics in the last few years. The review synthesises existing research on the application of these games in preschool, primary, secondary, and higher education settings. We employed a hybrid approach, combining database searches and the snowball method, to ensure a comprehensive and thorough selection of relevant literature for our systematic review. Published research studies between January 1980 and June 2025 that employed UNO® or UNO-type card games in education were collected. Forty-one research studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. We sought answers to three research questions. At first, we made a time analysis to organise the collected records. Based on the collection, we identified the mathematical topics for which teachers and researchers used the original UNO® game or developed UNO-type games at various educational levels, as well as the role of UNO® and UNO-type games in mathematics education. In approximately 68.29% of the cases, the authors introduce their own educational games modelled after UNO®. In contrast, just less than one-third of the records (31.71%) utilise the original UNO® playing cards in the teaching-learning process. Findings indicate that UNO-type educational maths games can enhance conceptual understanding, foster collaborative skills, and improve learning outcomes when appropriately integrated into curricula. The review also offers educators recommendations for effectively introducing these games at various educational levels. We aim to provide an evidence-based, well-structured insight into the potential of UNO® and UNO-type learning tools.