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Overview[]

Similar to Parcheesi, Sorry is a board game involving pawns, a board, an altered deck of cards (no 6’s or 9s), and a Home-zone. The object is to get all of your pawns across the board into the Home space, which is a safe zone. The first player to get all of their pawns Home wins.

History[]

The earliest variation of today's Sorry! can be traced back to England. William Henry Storey of Southend-on-Sea filed for a patent. Sorry! was registered as a trademark on 21 May 1929.

Early games were manufactured by BCM (British Card Manufacturers).

A Canadian patent followed in 1932. An English patent was granted to the inventor in 1933.

It was subsequently trademarked in the UK to Waddingtons, the British games manufacturer who sold it from 1934.

Sorry! was adopted by Parker Brothers in 1934. Hasbro now publishes it, as they purchased Parker Brothers in 1991.

Contents[]

The game comes with a board, a deck of cards, and four sets of pawns, four of each color. It also comes with an instruction manual.

How to Play[]

Choose a player to go first (high draw or youngest player will work). Play continues clockwise.

Shuffle the deck of cards and place them in the center of the play area. At the beginning of your turn, draw a card from the draw pile. If you draw a 1 or a 2, move a pawn from the “START” area onto the board. If you don’t draw a 1 or a 2, you cannot move a pawn onto the board. If you already have a pawn on the board, you may move according to the number rules for that card (see below).

If you have any legal move, you must move a pawn, even if you’d prefer not to.

Discard the card next to the draw pile to create the discard pile. If the deck runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw pile.

How_to_Play_Sorry!

How to Play Sorry!

Jumping/Bumping[]

What would a race be without a little jumping and bumping? You may jump over a pawn (yours or an opponents) that is in your path if you have sufficient movement points. However, two pawns can’t occupy the same spot on the board, so if you land on a space that contains another pawn, bump it back to it’s “START” space.

Slide Zone[]

The Slide Zone looks like a thermometer with a triangle on the top. If at any time you land exactly on the triangle of a Slide Zone that does not match your pawn’s color, slide to the end of the Slide Zone, bumping off any tokens in your path.

Safety Zones[]

Safety Zones look like Slide Zones, but they are larger. Only you may enter your Safety Zone. All normal rules apply. Note, you can’t move backwards into your safety zone, though you can exit a safety zone with a backwards move card. That pawn would be able to reenter the safety zone on a subsequent turn.

Sorry-game-board

Start Zone[]

One a 1 or a 2, move a pawn out of the “START” circle onto the first space beneath it (a smaller circle at the end of a Slide Zone). Both a 1 and a 2 move the pawn onto the outer starting circle, but a 2 card allows the player to draw a second move card. Remember, two pawns may never occupy the same space, even the outer starting circle.

The Cards[]

See Sorry!/Cards for in-depth information about cards in Sorry!.

Miscellaneous Odd Rules[]

The 4 and 10 cards move you backwards. If you are able to move a pawn backwards at least two spaces past the start zone, you may move your pawn into your own Home zone without moving all the way around the board on another turn.

If at any time you are unable to move, your turn ends.

If you have any legal move, you must take it.

Teams Variation[]

If you have exactly four players, you may play a team variant. Red and and Yellow partner together, as do Blue and Green.

Bumping rules and all other rules still apply, even if it would be harmful to the team. Note these following exceptions:

Any partner may move either theirs or their teammates pawn.

Sorry! cards must be used, so if there are no legal switches with an opponent, you must use it on your teammate.

7s can be split among both yours and your teammates pawns.

1s and 2s may move either yours or your teammates pawns.

Winning occurs when all of the pawns belonging to one team (8 pawns) are in their respective Home zone.

Point Variation[]

If you have all adult players, you can play for points. In this variant, begin with one pawn in play on the outer start circle and the remaining three pawns in the “START” zone. Shuffle the deck and deal five cards to each player. Players play one card on their turn and move accordingly. Place the played card into the discard pile, and draw another card from the draw pile.

If at any time you are unable to move, discard a card from your hand, draw a replacement, and end your turn.

The first player to get all four pawns “HOME” wins the round and scores in the following manner:

  • Score 5 points for each opposing pawn not in their “HOME” zone.
  • Score 25 points if no opponent has more than two pawns “HOME”.
  • Score 50 points if no opponent has more than one pawn “HOME”.
  • Score 100 points if no opponent has any pawns “HOME”.

Choose a set number of round or points to play to prior to starting the game.

Expansions and Revisions[]

Basic edition re-releases:[]

  • Sorry! Nostalgia: First version with diamonds, a version with a different board, wood parts and in a collector's box.
  • Sorry!: Family Game Night Edition.
  • Sorry! Fun on the Run! Edition.
  • Hasbro's Classics: Sorry! Limited edition; contained a new box and with diamonds.
  • Hasbro Adventure!: The Action Pack - with Twister, Connect Four, and Trouble.
  • Sorry! The Greatest Hits: The FULL Pack! - Had 5 editions of the game, chosen randomly.
  • Sorry! 2013 Edition Game

Themed editions:[]

  • Sorry!: The Disney Edition.
  • Sorry! The Simpsons Edition.
  • Sorry!: The Spider-Man 3 Edition (featured elements based on all 3 films starring Tobey Maguire.)
  • Pokémon Sorry! (Several editions released based on different "color editions" of the Pokémon games.)
  • Sorry! Disney's Splash Mountain Theme Park Collector's Edition.
  • Key Quest (neopets version) Similar to Sorry!, but more Neopets-like.
  • Sorry! SpongeBob SquarePants Edition.
  • Sorry! Phineas and Ferb
  • Sorry! Madagascar

Other Sorry!-themed games:[]

  • Sorry! Card Revenge: A card game in the style of UNO, but featuring a large electronic pawn that directs certain elements of the game when its head is tapped (via playing a SORRY! card).
  • Sorry Express!: See description below.
  • Sorry! Sliders: A board game where the pawns act as shuffleboard-like tokens using several "target boards".
  • Shakin' Sorry! Dice'n'Grab Edition: Dice-based game, where the object is to roll enough of your color face to fill your HOME board.
  • Shakin' Sorry!: Had a collectible Sorry Keychain.
  • Sorry! Spin: A twist or spin of the game. Released July 2010.
  • U-Build Sorry: Part of Hasbro's U-BUILD series, which had a Lego-like board that allowed for custom paths, and a modified game goal of "escorting" pawns from the center of the board to your HOME space.

Sorry! Express[]

Parker Brothers has released a travel version of Sorry! called Sorry! Express. The game consists of three dice, four home bases, a start base, and sixteen pawns, four in each color. Up to four players can play this game. To play, each player takes a home base and sets it on a different color and all of the pawns are put on the start base no matter how many people are playing. The first person rolls all three dice and gets one of four possibilities for each die:

  1. Color pawn – The player takes the corresponding color pawn from the start base and, if it matches up with the color of his or her home base, puts it in his or her home section. If not, it is put in his or her waiting area. When there are no more pawns of a particular color in the Start base and a player rolls that same color, he can take that color pawn from another player’s waiting area, not his or her Home section.
  2. Sorry! – Take a pawn from the home section of one player’s home base and keep it.
  3. Wild Pawn – The player may take any color pawn from the Start base or waiting areas (not the Home section of another player) and keep it.
  4. Slide – Change either ones own Home section or someone else’s Home section to a different color.

The first person to get four pawns of the same color in their home section wins.

Links and References[]

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