Sorry! Board Game Rules | How to Play and Win
I'm a dad who fell back in love with board games so I could play them with my two kids, and now I share honest, parent-first reviews of what we love. I'm not on social media, I quit it a long time ago.
The Quick Answer
Sorry is a 2 to 4 player family board game where you draw a card, move a pawn, and race all four of your pawns from Start to Home by exact count to win.
Sorry is not a cooperative game at all, which is the opposite of what the old version of this page claimed. It is the original take that family game, and that is exactly why it has stayed on shelves since 1934. You draw a card, you move a pawn, and sooner or later somebody sends you all the way back to Start and says the word that gives the game its name.
The whole game is three ideas. You draw one card and move one pawn by the number on it. Special cards let you start a pawn, split a move, swap with an opponent, or bump them back to Start. And you win by getting all four pawns from Start to Home, where every pawn has to arrive by exact count, so overshooting with a big card is a real problem.
The old version of this page pointed the two card and the Safety Zone the wrong way round, mixed up the slide color rule, and invented a luck percentage. Everything below is checked against the Hasbro rules and the classic game, and where it corrects the old page it says so plainly.
Affiliate disclosure: this page contains Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through one we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and it never changes the verdict above.How you win a game of Sorry
You win Sorry by moving all four of your pawns from Start, around the board, and into your Home space before anyone else. Each pawn has to reach Home by exact count, so you cannot run past it with a big card and call it done. The first player to land all four pawns in Home wins immediately, and that is the only win condition in the classic rules.
Because it is a race, every turn is about the gap between your pawns and the leader. A high card is wonderful when you are behind and a small disaster when you are one space short of Home, which is the tension that makes a 90 year old design still work at a modern table.
How a turn works: draw a card, move a pawn
A turn is one card and one move: draw the top card, do what it says, place it on the discard pile, and pass to the left. That is the entire loop, which is why Sorry! teaches in two minutes. Here is the sequence:
- Draw the top card from the deck and read it.
- Move a pawn by the card. If more than one pawn can follow the card, you choose which one.
- Discard the card face up on the discard pile. If the deck runs out, reshuffle the discards.
- Pass to the left. Pawns move clockwise around the board unless a card says otherwise.
Three rules sit under that loop and they matter. First, you must move if you can, even when the move helps an opponent or hurts you. Second, if no legal move exists you forfeit the turn. Third, landing on an opponent bumps them back to Start and you take the space, though you can never bump your own pawn, and only one of your pawns may sit on a space at a time.
Every Sorry card and what it does
The deck has 45 cards: five 1s, four each of the Sorry! card and the 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12, with no 6 and no 9 to avoid confusion. Here is every card in the classic rules.
| Card | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1 | Move a pawn out of Start, or move a pawn forward 1 space |
| 2 | Move a pawn out of Start, or move forward 2. In the classic rules you also draw again; Hasbro removed that in later editions |
| 3 | Move a pawn forward 3 spaces |
| 4 | Move a pawn backward 4 spaces |
| 5 | Move a pawn forward 5 spaces |
| 7 | Move one pawn forward 7, or split the 7 between two of your pawns. A 7 cannot be split to bring a pawn out of Start |
| 8 | Move a pawn forward 8 spaces |
| 10 | Move a pawn forward 10, or move a pawn backward 1 |
| 11 | Move a pawn forward 11, or swap one of your pawns with an opponent’s |
| 12 | Move a pawn forward 12 spaces |
| Sorry! | Take a pawn from your Start, place it on an opponent’s space, and send that pawn back to Start. Later editions let you move a pawn forward 4 instead |
Two cards trip people up. The 11 swap is the sneaky one, because you can trade a pawn stuck near Start for an opponent’s pawn sitting near their Home. And the Sorry! card is the one that gives the game its reputation, because it can undo five turns of someone else’s progress in a single draw.
Slides, Safety Zones and getting a pawn home
A slide is a colored shortcut on the board with a triangle at its start. Land on the triangle and you slide straight to the end, and every pawn on the slide, including your own, goes back to Start. The color rule is the part the old page got wrong: in the classic rules you slide on a slide that is not your own color, and the 2013 board was redesigned so you also slide on your own color. Check the triangle in front of you and follow your edition.
A Safety Zone is the colored path that leads to your Home, and only your color may enter it. A pawn inside is safe from bumps and from the 11 and Sorry! cards. The old page claimed you cannot enter your Safety Zone without a backward move, and that is simply wrong: you move forward into it like any other space. A backward card (the 4 or the 10) is only useful when you have overshot the entrance, because you may not move forward past your own Safety Zone entry.
That leads straight to the last rule, and it is the one that decides games: a pawn enters Home by exact count only. A 5 card will not get you into Home if you are 3 spaces away, and a big card that carries you past the entrance just wastes the move. This is why experienced players keep a small card in reserve near the end, and why the last laps are far more tense than the opening.
Player count and who Sorry is for
Sorry plays 2 to 4 players and it is genuinely good across the range, though four is where it sings. Two players is a quiet duel where there is only one person to send home, three adds the politics of temporary alliances, and four is the classic chaos count where the board is crowded, the slides stay busy, and the Sorry cards land constantly. A game runs about 30 minutes, and the age on the box is 6 and up, because all a child really needs is the ability to read the numbers on the cards and count spaces.
For a family, the appeal is that luck does the heavy lifting, so Alex at 7 can beat me without me letting him, and that is a rare and precious thing in a game. If your kids love this race and move rhythm, our Trouble review is the pop o matic sibling for the same age band, and Candy Land is the gentler first race game for a younger sibling who is not ready for the Sorry card yet.
Which Sorry board game to buy
| Version | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Sorry! | The classic Hasbro box: 16 pawns, the 45 card deck, the standard board | Any family, and it is the only box you need |
| Sorry! Giant Edition | A 2021 edition with an oversized vinyl mat and large pawns for floor or garden play | Big group game nights and families who play on the floor |
Buy the classic first. It is cheap, it fits on a coffee table, and the Giant Edition is the same game in a much bigger shape, which is fun for a party or a family reunion but impractical for a normal weeknight on the sofa.
Sorry is the game Emma at 10 wants to win more than any other, and she has learned to keep a small card for the last three spaces like a little tactician. Alex at 7 mostly plays it for the joy of saying Sorry and sending me all the way home, which he finds funnier every single time. We have had a few genuine tears over a late slide, so now we play it on a Saturday afternoon rather than at the end of a long day, and honestly that one small change turned it from a fight into our favourite cheap classic.
House rules and house strategy (not official rules)
Everything in this section is our family house advice, not the rulebook, and none of it is official. If you want the pure game, follow the box.
The seven is the best card, so plan for it. Holding a 7 lets you move two pawns at once, which is often the difference between one pawn home and two. Treat it as a finisher rather than a mover.
Keep a 1, 2 or 4 near the end. Because Home is exact count, small cards are gold in the final stretch, and a 4 can walk you backward out of trouble if you overshoot your Safety Zone entry.
Do not camp on a slide. Hanging out at the end of a slide is asking to be sent home by the next player who lands on the triangle. Move through, do not linger.
Settle the tears rule before you start. The single best house rule we ever added is simple: you may only use a Sorry! card on the current leader. It keeps the game competitive, it stops the youngest player being picked on, and it removes most of the crying.
If the take that side of Sorry is exactly what your family cannot handle, our guide to alternatives to Sorry that cause less fighting is the natural next step. And if your kids want a different flavour of fast family conflict, our King of Tokyo guide swaps the cards for dice, and Connect 4 is the pure two player duel for a calmer table.
- Similarities: Both are family race and bump games that teach in minutes, both play 2 to 4 in about half an hour, and both turn on luck as much as skill.
- Differences: Sorry uses a 45 card deck with slides and a home you enter by exact count, while Trouble uses a single die in a sealed pop o matic dome and a simpler track.
- Why this game fans will enjoy it: If your kids love the race and bump rhythm of Sorry but the Sorry card causes tears, Trouble keeps the fun and removes the biggest source of upset.
Frequently asked questions
How many players can play Sorry?
Sorry plays 2 to 4 players, and the current Hasbro edition gives each player four pawns for 16 pawns in the box. Two players is a quiet duel and four players is a busy board where the Sorry cards and slides land far more often.
How do you win Sorry?
You win Sorry by being the first player to move all four of your pawns from Start, around the board, and into your Home space. Every pawn must arrive by exact count, so the right card has to land you on the final space.
What does each Sorry card do?
A one or a two moves a pawn out of Start or forward that many spaces, and a two also draws again in the classic rules. The three, five, eight and twelve move forward, the four moves back four, the ten moves forward ten or back one, the eleven moves eleven or swaps with an opponent, the seven moves seven or splits between two pawns, and the Sorry card bumps an opponent pawn back to Start.
What happens when you land on a slide in Sorry?
Landing on the triangle at the start of a slide sends your pawn to the end and sends every pawn on the slide, including your own, back to Start. In the classic rules you slide on a slide that is not your own color, while the 2013 board was redesigned so you also slide on your own color.
Do you have to move if you can in Sorry?
Yes, if any of your pawns has a legal move you must take it, even when that move helps an opponent or hurts your own position. If you have no legal move at all, you forfeit the turn and play passes to the left.
Does Sorry have a draw again rule?
The classic Sorry deck lets you draw a second card every time you draw a two, even if the two did not let you move. Hasbro removed that draw again rule in later editions, so check the card text in your own copy.
Is Sorry good for kids and families?
Yes, Sorry is a genuine family game for ages 6 and up, and the rules are simple enough for a young child to play with a little help reading cards. The catch is that the Sorry card and the slides can cause real tears, so it rewards a calm table and a sense of humor.
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