Sorry!

Today's review is of the 1929 release, Sorry!  For 2-4 players, it takes 30 minutes- but feels like hours.

Overview
You have four pawns in your starting area.  The goal: get all four to your home area first.  On your turn, you draw a card.  Generally, it's a number card, and you move one pawn the stated number of spaces.  It might be a Sorry! card, though, which lets you take one pawn from your starting area and replace an opponent's on the board, forcing them back to their starting area.  You can only move a pawn out of your starting area when you draw a 1 or a 2, and other numbers have special rules, as stated on the card.  First with all four in the home zone wins!

a re-relase of the Sorry! in its original form; image from here

Review
My kids are really into this game right now, and it makes me sad.  Sorry! is a horrible game, for several reasons:
- many turns where no action is possible.  You need a 1 or 2 to start, and sometimes you don't draw those for five or ten turns.  And towards the end, when your pawns are close to home, you need a card with the exact number on it to get your pawn home, which can take forever to draw.
- there are many cards that make the game last forever.  Sorry! cards, swapping cards, etc., drag the game out and cause frustration.
- there are few meaningful choices.  Games, at their heart, are about meaningful choices.  Sorry! has almost none.  You draw, you move.  Okay, maybe you can pick which of your pawns to move . . . if you have more than one out, and if both are eligible to move the number of spaces.  That's it.

The only redeeming value is its simplicity (my 4-year-old enjoys it) and helping kids learn counting.  Otherwise, avoid- or you'll be sorry.

Rating: D