Sorry! in one page
2–4 players · board · 45 cards · 3 pawns each (4 in older sets)
Each turn you draw one card and move a pawn the number shown, and a few cards do something special: 4 moves backward, 7 can split between two pawns, 11 can swap places, and Sorry! bumps an opponent. Landing on an opponent's pawn sends it back to its Start. The first player to get all their pawns into Home by exact count wins.
In brief
- Draw 1 card, move, discard; no legal move = lose turn
- Any forward card moves a pawn out of Start (classic: 1 or 2 only)
- 1: move Ice token, then forward 1 · 2: move Fire token, then forward 2
- 3, 5, 8, 12: forward that many
- 4: backward 4 · 10: forward 10 or back 1
- 7: forward 7 or split between two pawns
- 11: forward 11 or switch with an opponent (optional)
- Sorry!: Start pawn replaces an opponent's, or forward 4
- Land on an opponent = it goes back to Start
- Slide only on your color's slides (classic: other colors)
- No backward moves into the Safety Zone
- Exact count into Home; all pawns Home wins
Setup
- Each player picks a color and puts that color's pawns in the matching Start circle. The current edition uses three pawns each; if your set came with four per color, you are playing the older rules (see house rules).
- Shuffle the 45 cards and place them face down in the center of the board. Put the Fire and Ice tokens in the center too.
- The youngest player goes first, and play passes to the left.
On your turn
- Draw the top card and do what it says. You must move if any legal move exists; if none does, your turn is over.
- Any forward-moving number card can bring a pawn out of Start. A Sorry! card can also bring one out by replacing an opponent's pawn.
- Pawns move clockwise unless the card says to go backward.
- If you end on a space with an opponent's pawn, it goes back to its own Start. You can never end on a space holding your own pawn, so a move that would do that is not allowed.
- If you land exactly on the triangle at the start of a Slide that includes your color, slide to its end and bump every pawn in the way, yours included. On a Slide without your color, stay on the triangle.
- Discard the card face up. Play passes left.
Scoring
| 1 | Move the Ice token to any opponent's pawn on the board, then move one of your pawns forward 1 |
| 2 | You may move the Fire token to one of your pawns, then move a pawn forward 2 |
| 3 | Move one pawn forward 3 |
| 4 | Move one pawn backward 4 |
| 5 | Move one pawn forward 5 |
| 7 | Move one pawn forward 7, or split the 7 between two pawns (for example 4 and 3) |
| 8 | Move one pawn forward 8 |
| 10 | Move one pawn forward 10, or move one pawn backward 1 |
| 11 | Move one pawn forward 11, or switch one of your pawns with an opponent's pawn on the open track |
| 12 | Move one pawn forward 12 |
| Sorry! | Move a pawn from your Start onto an opponent's pawn and send that pawn to its Start, or move one of your pawns forward 4 |
Winning
The first player to get all of their pawns into Home wins, and the game ends at once. Pawns enter Home only by exact count. A pawn in the Safety Zone that is too close for the card you drew simply can't use that card.
gamesrulesexplained.com/sorry/ · rules checked September 2026 · SORRY! is a trademark of Hasbro.