For the first 20 games this season, Schroder said, the Uno group had a prime location on the plane: a section in the middle with a large table. It was glorious, he said. He sounded almost wistful describing it.

Image Clockwise from left, the Hawks’ Dennis Schröder, Kyle Korver, Thabo Sefolosha, Jeff Teague and Al Horford played a game of Uno on a flight last year in a photo from Kent Bazemore’s Instagram account. Credit Kent Bazemore

“But then we started losing,” Schroder said, “and the coaches said we had to go.”

Banished to a spot toward the front of the plane and suddenly absent their table, the group had no choice but to improvise, draping a blanket over Schroder’s suitcase. It had the advantage of being large, with ample surface area.

“He can fit a lot of clothes in it,” Bazemore observed.

For the record, Ham said the Uno players were relocated because of safety issues — the plane’s crew needed a clear path through the aisle — and not because the team was struggling. But if the players were under the impression that it was a punitive measure, Ham did not seem to mind. Schroder acknowledged that he misses the Uno table.

“We have to take care of business,” Schroder said.

It has reached a point, Schroder said, that the team’s Uno aficionados actually look forward to packing their bags and boarding the plane for their next trip. Schroder is responsible for the cards, stashing them in his designer backpack.

“Dennis takes real good care of the deck,” Bazemore said.

Some of the group’s rules are more complicated than others. If a player is holding the same type of card that was just thrown by an opponent, he can play it out of turn. And depending on the circumstances, a player who throws a Draw 4 card can actually force an opponent to draw eight.

To explain other tweaks to the game might require a flowchart.

“It’s such a strategized game,” Bazemore said. “You can’t just go up there and play reckless.”

In any case, there is often a flurry of late-game action. Bazemore recently had to draw 50 cards after opponents conspired to hit him with a series of Draw 4s.