# Rules Of Sorry PlayPalace team, 2026. ## TL;DR Sorry is a classic board game where 2 to 4 players race their pawns around a shared 60-square track and into their home zone. You draw a card each turn, then move a pawn according to that card's rules. Land on an opponent's pawn and you send it back to start. The Sorry card lets you pull a pawn straight out of start and onto an opponent's position, bumping them. First player to get all their pawns home wins. There is no dice in Sorry -- everything is driven by cards, and many cards have special effects (moving backward, swapping positions, splitting movement between two pawns). Luck plays a large role, but choosing which pawn to move and when to play aggressively makes the difference. ## Gameplay The game is played on a square board with a 60-square track that all players share. Each player has a start zone, a home path (5 squares long), and a home zone. The home path branches off the main track just before your own start position, so only you can enter your home path -- opponents cannot follow you in. Each player begins with all pawns in their start zone. On your turn, you draw a card from the shared deck. The card determines what you can do: move a pawn out of start, move forward or backward a certain number of squares, swap with an opponent, or play the Sorry card to replace an opponent on the track. If you have no legal moves for the card you drew, your turn is skipped and play passes to the next player. When you land on a square occupied by an opponent's pawn, their pawn is sent back to start. You cannot land on your own pawns -- if a move would place two of your pawns on the same square, that move is not available. Pawns on the home path are completely safe. No opponent can enter your home path or interact with pawns there. The board has slides at fixed positions along each side. If you land on the start of a slide that belongs to another player's color, you slide forward along it (3 or 4 squares depending on the slide), bumping any pawns in the way back to start. Landing on your own color's slide does not trigger a slide under classic rules. When all of your pawns have reached home, you win. ### Card Effects The deck contains 44 cards: 4 copies each of 11 different card faces. There is no 6 or 9 card. Here is what each card does: * **1:** Move a pawn out of start onto the track, or move a pawn forward 1 square. * **2:** Move a pawn out of start onto the track, or move a pawn forward 2 squares. Under classic rules, drawing a 2 also grants you an extra turn -- you draw and play again immediately after finishing this move. * **3:** Move a pawn forward 3 squares. * **4:** Move a pawn backward 4 squares. This is the only card that forces backward movement. It can be strategically powerful because moving backward can position you near your home entry from the other direction. * **5:** Move a pawn forward 5 squares. * **7:** Move a pawn forward 7 squares, or split the 7 between two of your pawns. When splitting, each pawn must move at least 1 square and the two amounts must add up to 7. Both pawns must be on the track or home path (not in start or already home). You first pick which two pawns to split between, then choose the specific distribution (for example, 3 and 4, or 2 and 5). * **8:** Move a pawn forward 8 squares. * **10:** Move a pawn forward 10 squares, or move a pawn backward 1 square. You choose which option to use. * **11:** Move a pawn forward 11 squares, or swap one of your track pawns with any opponent's track pawn. The swap does not require you to move forward at all -- your pawn simply takes the opponent's position and vice versa. You cannot swap with pawns that are in start, on a home path, or already home. * **12:** Move a pawn forward 12 squares. * **Sorry:** Take a pawn from your start zone and place it on any square occupied by an opponent's pawn. That opponent's pawn is sent back to start. If no opponent has a pawn on the track, this card has no effect under classic rules (the A5065 variant lets you move forward 4 instead as a fallback). ### Slides The board has two slides on each side, eight total. When you land on the triangle at the start of a slide that is not your own color, your pawn automatically slides forward to the end of that slide. Any pawns (yours or opponents') on the slide path are bumped back to start. Slides are 3 or 4 squares long depending on their position. You do not slide on your own color's slides under classic rules. ### Customizable Options The host can adjust these settings before starting the game: * **Rules Profile:** Choose between "Classic 00390" and "A5065 Core." Classic follows the traditional Hasbro 00390 rules. A5065 Core changes several things: players get 3 pawns instead of 4, any card can move a pawn out of start (not just 1 and 2), drawing a 2 does not grant an extra turn, the Sorry card has a fallback of moving forward 4 when no opponent target exists, and slide behavior is inverted (you slide on your own color instead of opponents'). * **Auto Apply Single Move:** When enabled (the default), if you draw a card and there is only one legal move, it is played automatically without requiring you to select it. This speeds up the game considerably. Turn it off if you want to confirm every move yourself. * **Faster Setup (One Pawn Out):** When enabled, each player starts with one pawn already on the track at their start position instead of all pawns in the start zone. This shortens the early game where players are waiting to draw a 1 or 2. ### Example Turn You have 4 pawns. Two are in start, one is on track square 22, and one is on home path step 3. You draw a 7. Your legal moves might include: 1. Move pawn 3 (on square 22) forward 7. 2. Split 7 between pawn 3 (track) and pawn 4 (home path) -- for example, pawn 3 moves 4 and pawn 4 moves 3, which would land pawn 4 exactly in home. You choose option 2 and pick the split "pawn 3 moves 2, pawn 4 moves 5." But wait -- pawn 4 is already on home path step 3, and the home path is only 5 steps long plus the home square. Moving 5 from step 3 would overshoot home, so that split is not available. Instead, you pick "pawn 3 moves 4, pawn 4 moves 3" -- pawn 4 moves from home path step 3 to step 6, which is exactly home. Pawn 4 arrives home with a celebratory sound, and pawn 3 is now on track square 26. ## Keyboard Shortcuts Shortcuts specific to the game of Sorry: * D or Space: Draw a card (when it is your turn and you are in the draw phase). * 1 through 9: Select a move option by number. After drawing a card, your legal moves appear as a numbered list. Press the corresponding number to play that move. * B: View the full board -- shows every player's pawn positions in a status box. * V: View your own pawns -- speaks the position of each of your pawns. * T: Check whose turn it is. * S: Check scores (pawns home). * Shift+S: View detailed scores. ### How Board Information Is Presented Every announcement tells you exactly where a pawn ended up. When you or another player makes a move, the game announces the pawn number, what it did, and its new location. Locations are described as one of: * "In start" -- the pawn has not entered the board yet. * "On track square N" -- the pawn is on position N of the 60-square shared track (numbered 1 through 60). * "On home path step N" -- the pawn is on step N of your private 5-step home path (numbered 1 through 5). * "Home" -- the pawn has finished. Use V at any time to hear all your pawn positions. Use B to hear every player's pawn positions. When an opponent's pawn is captured, you hear which player did it, whose pawn was sent back, and which pawn number it was. ## Game Theory / Tips * Getting pawns out of start is your first priority. You need a 1 or 2 to leave start under classic rules, so roughly 8 out of 44 cards can do it. Until a pawn is on the track, most cards are wasted. * The faster setup option is worth enabling if you want to skip the early-game dead turns where everyone is stuck waiting for a 1 or 2. * The 4 card (backward 4) is not always bad. Moving backward from just past your home entry can loop you back around near your home path from the other direction. In some board positions, going backward is faster than going forward the long way around. * The 7 is one of the most powerful cards because of splitting. You can use a split to land one pawn exactly in home while still advancing another. Always check whether a split gets a pawn home -- it is easy to overlook. * The 11 swap can be devastating. If an opponent is deep into their home approach and you have a pawn near your own start, swap to steal their advanced position and send them back near your start. Look for swaps where you gain a lot of ground and the opponent loses a lot. * The Sorry card is the most aggressive card in the deck. It only works when you have a pawn in start and an opponent has a pawn on the track, so it naturally becomes less useful as the game progresses and pawns leave start. * Pay attention to slides. Landing on an opponent's slide start can launch you forward 3 or 4 extra squares and bump anyone in the way. Conversely, an opponent landing on a slide near your pawn can send you back to start even if they did not target you directly. * Pawns on the home path are completely safe. Once a pawn is on the home path, it cannot be captured. Getting pawns onto the home path quickly reduces your vulnerability. * When you have multiple pawns on the track, spread them out. Clustering pawns together increases the chance that a single opponent slide or Sorry card disrupts multiple pawns. * If auto-apply is on and only one move is legal, the game plays it instantly. This keeps the pace fast but means you do not get to review the move before it happens. If you prefer to always confirm, turn auto-apply off in the options.