Overview of Sorry!: The Family Fun Game!

Family night has arrived. The dice to your Yahtzee game have gone missing as the cats has used them as toys. (A reminder to put a game away when finished playing!) What to play? You need a break from Cranium (not really, but go with me for the article) and none of your other games can be decided upon by all family members.

Bring out that slider game- Sorry! A true family favorite for all ages. From three years old to ninety- three year old this game is easy and fun to play!

Sorry is played with drawing cards rather than dice. There are four colors on the board- yellow, blue, red, and green. If you have lost any of the colored pawns, clothespins colored with marker work.

It starts with the person who turns over a one or a two goes first. We have gone through almost an entire deck before one of us was able to initiate play. Moreover, some of us have sat through several turns of the deck waiting for our chance to "get in the game" with a one or a two.

Each player turns a card over from the deck and must follow the directions on the card. If a player turns over a two, that player gets a second turn. (We look forward to the two's almost as much as the Sorry cards.) If a player turns over a four, that player is only able to move backward. The absolute best card to get if a player is sitting just outside of start!

The Sorry card is also used to get in the game. If a player draws this card and has a pawn left in the start area, the player can take the place of any other colored pawn on the table, sending that pawn back to start. (SORRY!)

If a player cannot move the allotted spaces nor has any pawns left in start when a Sorry card is turned over, then the turn is forfeited and the next player is up.

Two pawns cannot occupy the same space (another favorite rule of the game). If a player lands on a square already occupied by another pawn, then the first pawn is sent back to start. (SORRY!) If a player is set to land on a square already occupied with one of his or her own pawns, then that turn is forfeited if another pawn cannot make the move.

The objective of this game to get a player's pawns home, but the fun comes in the SORRY aspect of this game. Consider this for a moment. An older sibling's pawn is almost home, almost in the safety zone ( the last five spaces before reaching home, where no one can be sent back to start) and a younger sibling is able to land on the same space and SORRY the older sibling's pawn had to begin again. It is safe sibling rivalry and competition!

My favorite part is the slide. If a pawn lands on the first square of the slide (five squares in a row) then the player can immediately move to the last square on the slide, except the slide of its own color. Any pawn occupying space in the slide when another player can slide is immediately sent back to start! SORRY. (Not)

In order to reach home a player must turn over the exact number of spaces needed to reach home. If a player turns over a card numbering more than required, then the turn is forfeit. If a player turns over a card with a backwards move, the player must move and possibly leave the comfort of the safety zone. In other words- open to SORRY plays again.

This game is not only fun, but it teaches courtesy. What other game do you know promotes the saying of SORRY when a player is annihilated?

If you have not played this game in a while, do so and see how much fun a family can have!!!