Contents
Overview
Sorry is a game that is a lot like Parcheesi. It has pawns, a board, a deck of cards with no 6s or 9s, and a “Home-zone.” The goal is to get all of your pawns across the board and into the Home space, which is a safe area. Whoever gets all of their pawns Home first wins.
History
The first version of Sorry! that we know of came from England. William Henry Storey, from Southend-on-Sea, put in an application for a patent. Sorry! has been a trademark since May 21, 1929.
BCM made some of the first games (British Card Manufacturers).
In 1932, Canada got its own patent. In 1933, the English government gave the inventor a patent.
After that, it became a trademark in the UK and was sold by Waddingtons, a British game company, from 1934 on.
Sorry! In 1934, Parker Brothers took it on. Since Hasbro bought Parker Brothers in 1991, it is now published by that company.
Contents
How to Play
Choose who goes first (high draw or youngest player will work). The game keeps going clockwise.
Mix up the cards and put them in the middle of the game area. Draw a card from the draw pile at the start of your turn. If you draw a 1 or 2, move a pawn from the “START” area onto the board. You can’t move a pawn onto the board unless you draw a 1 or a 2. If you already have a pawn on the board, you can move according to the number rules for that card (see below).
Even if you don’t want to, you have to move a pawn if you have a legal move.
To make the discard pile, throw away the card next to the draw pile. If there are no more cards in the deck, shuffle the cards in the discard pile to make a new draw pile.
Jumping/Bumping
What would a race be like if the runners didn’t jump and bump into each other? If you have enough movement points, you can jump over a pawn in your way or an opponent’s. But two pawns can’t be in the same place on the board, so if you land on a spot where there’s already a pawn, you have to move it back to its “START” space.
Slide Zone
The top of the Slide Zone looks like the top of a thermometer. If your pawn lands on the exact triangle of a Slide Zone that is not the same colour as your pawn, slide to the end of the Slide Zone, knocking over any tokens in your way.
Safety Zones
Slide Zones and Safety Zones look the same, but Safety Zones are bigger. No one else can get into your Safety Zone. Normal rules are in effect. You can’t move backwards into your safety zone, but you can use a backwards move card to leave a safety zone. On the next turn, that pawn could get back into the safety zone.
Start Zone One with a 1 or 2, and move a pawn from the “START” circle to the space below it ( a smaller circle at the end of a Slide Zone). The pawn moves to the outer starting circle with both a 1 and a 2, but only a 2 lets the player draw a second move card. Remember that even in the outer starting circle, two pawns can never occupy the same space.
The Cards
1. Move a pawn onto the outer circle of the starting area or one space forward. 2: Move a pawn to the outer circle of the starting area or two spaces forward. Even if you couldn’t move a pawn, you could draw again. 3—Move a pawn three squares forward. 4—Move a pawn four squares backward. 5—Move a pawn five squares forward.
7—Move a pawn seven squares forward, or split the move between two pawns. You can’t move a pawn with a 7. If a 7 is used to move a pawn home, the rest of the total moves must be used by another pawn, or the move is not legal.
8—Move a pawn eight squares forward. 10—Move a pawn 10 spaces forward or one space backward. 11—Move a pawn forward 11 spaces or switch the position of any of your pawns with any of your opponent’s pawns. Note that you don’t have to change positions if there’s nothing else you can do. This is the one time that rule doesn’t apply.
Also, you can’t move pawns between the “START,” “HOME,” and “SAFETY ZONE” areas. If your switch puts you on the starting triangle of a Safety Zone, remember to slide and bump. 12—Move a pawn 12 squares forward. Sorry!— Take one of your “START” pawns and move it to an opponent’s legal space (not “HOME,” “START,” or “SAFETY ZONE”), bumping the opponent back to their “START” position. If there are no legal pawns to bump or there are no pawns in the “START” space, your turn is over.
Miscellaneous Odd Rules
When you get a 4 or 10, you go backwards. If you can move a pawn back at least two spaces past the start zone, you can move it to your Home zone without having to move it all the way around the board again on your next turn.
If you get stuck and can’t move, your turn is over.
You must use any legal option you have.
Teams Variation: You can play a team variation if you have exactly four people. Blue and Green go together, and so do Red and Yellow.
Even if it would hurt the team, you still have to follow the rules about bumping and everything else. Note that the following are not true:
Any partner can move their own pawn or the pawn of their partner.
Sorry! You have to use your cards, so if you can’t switch with an opponent, you have to use it on a teammate.
7s can be split between your pawns and the pawns of your opponent.
The numbers 1 and 2 can move either your pawns or the pawns of your opponents.
When all eight pawns on one team are in their respective Home zones, that team has won.
Point Variation
If everyone is over 18, you can play for points. In this version, you start the game with one pawn on the outer start circle and the other three in the “START” zone. Shuffle the cards and give each player five. When it’s a player’s turn, they play one card and move based on that. Put the played card on the pile of cards to be thrown away and draw a new card from the draw pile.
If you can’t move, you can throw away a card from your hand, draw a new one, and then end your turn
The round is won by the player who gets all four pawns “HOME” first. Here’s how points are given:
Score 5 points for every pawn on the other side that is not in its “HOME” zone. Get 25 points if no other player has more than two “HOME” pawns. Get 50 points if no one else has more than one “HOME” pawn. Get 100 points if no one else has any “HOME” pawns.
Before the game starts, choose a set number of rounds or points to play to.
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
Sorry! Express is a version of the game for travelling that was made by Parker Brothers. The game has three dice, four home bases, a starting base, and sixteen pawns, four of each colour. This game can be played by up to four people. To play, each player takes a home base and puts it on a different colour. No matter how many people are playing, all of the pawns are put on the start base. The first person rolls all three dice and chooses one of four options for each die:
Color pawn: The player takes the pawn of the same colour from the start base and puts it in his or her home section if it matches the colour of his or her home base. If not, it is put in the area where he or she waits. When there are no more pawns of a certain colour in the Start base and a player rolls that colour, he can take that colour pawn from another player’s waiting area, not from his or her Home section.
Sorry! – Take one player’s pawn from their home section and keep it.
Wild Pawn: The player can take and keep any colour pawn from the Start base or the waiting areas, but not from another player’s Home section.
Slide: Change the colour of either your own Home section or someone else’s Home section.
The winner is the first person to get four pawns of the same colour in their home area.
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