Sorry! Card Game
Sorry! Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
For 2 to 4 players, ages 6 and up.
12 SORRY! cards, 13 START/HOME cards, 41 Playing cards (no 6's or 9's).
Object
Be the first player to flip over all of your START cards to HOME. Do this by laying down Playing cards into rows in front of your START cards. When the values of the rows total exactly 15, you have reached HOME.
Setup
Pick a color: red, blue, green or yellow. Now take all of the START/HOME cards of that color and place them START-side up in front of you. The number of START cards you play with depends on how many people are in your game:
- For 4 players, use 2 START cards each (all colors).
- For 3 players, use 3 START cards each (red, blue and green).
- For 2 players, use 4 START cards each (red and blue only).
Separate the remaining cards into 2 piles: Playing cards and SORRY! cards. You can tell which is which by the back of the cards. Look at the pictures above (Playing Card and Sorry Card) to see what the card backs look like.
Shuffle the SORRY! cards and place them facedown in a pile where everyone can reach them. Now shuffle the Playing cards. Deal 4 Playing cards facedown to each player and place the rest of the pile facedown near the SORRY! cards. Leave a little room next to each pile. Later on this is where you'll be discarding cards.
Figure 1 shows the cards set up for you and 3 of your friends.
Now everyone look at your cards, but be careful not to show anyone else. And no trying to peek at anyone else's either!
The youngest player goes first. Play then passes to the left.
On Your Turn
On your turn you must do two things:
- You must draw a card.
- You must play a card. You play a card by either placing it in front of one of your START cards, or putting it into the Playing card discard pile.
1. Draw a Card
Pick up the top card from the Playing card pile (if you don't remember which were the Playing cards, look back to the picture on the left), and put it into your hand. You only get to draw one card per turn, regardless of how many cards are in your hand.
NOTE: After a while you may run out of cards in the Playing card draw pile. If this happens, shuffle the Playing card discard pile, and place it facedown to form a new draw pile.
2. Play a Card
Now you must play one card from your hand.
If a card has a number only on it, place it in front of any of your START cards. On your next turn, you may be able to place another card on top of this one. Place your cards on top of each other to form a row in front of your START cards, but make sure you can see each of the cards in the row.
Figure 2: Play your cards into a row like this.
Keep in mind that you're trying to make rows that total exactly 15. You cannot place a card on a row if that card would make the value of the row go higher than 15. See the example below for what you can and cannot do with your rows.
Example: You can play the #10 to this row because the total is less than 15. You cannot play the #10 to this row because the total would be greater than 15.
Most Playing cards add to the value of a row, but the #10 card can either add 10 or subtract 1. Decide which value you want before you play the card. Play the card so the value you've chosen is visible to the other players. Once you've decided and placed the card, you cannot change your mind.
If the card has special instructions on it, place it in front of one of your START cards, then follow its instructions.
If the card has SORRY! on it, place it in the Playing card discard pile and draw a card from the SORRY! card pile. Follow the instructions on the SORRY! card immediately. Then discard it to the SORRY! card discard pile. If you can't do what the card says, discard it. This ends your turn. SORRY!
Cards cannot be played onto another player's card row, although some cards allow you to remove a card from another player's card row. If you cannot play any card from your hand, you must discard one to the Playing card discard pile. Better luck next turn!
My Row Adds Up to 15! When the numbers on the cards in one of your card rows add up to EXACTLY 15, you've reached HOME. Take all of the cards in that row and place them in the Playing card discard pile. Now flip that row's START card over to HOME. Try to do this to your remaining card rows.
Figure (printed diagram): Move to Discard Pile. Flip over. Discard the cards that make up this set. Play sets from this card. When the set totals 15, turn this card over.
Card Values
What's It All Add Up To? Here is a quick look at what you'll find in the Playing cards and how they all work.
- SAFE: Doesn't add any value to your card row, but the row is now safe. No other player can remove a card from this row or change it in any way.
- 1: Adds 1 to the card row.
- 2: Adds 2 to the card row. After playing this card, you get to take another turn (including drawing).
- 3: Adds 3 to the card row. After playing this card, take a card from another player's hand (without looking) and add it to your hand.
- 4: Adds 4 to the card row. However, you must FIRST discard a card from your hand in order to play this card.
- 5: Adds 5 to the card row.
- 7 (slide): Adds 7 to the card row. After playing this card, remove the top card from any other player's card row and discard it. You cannot remove a card from a row with a SAFE card in it.
- 8: Adds 8 to the card row.
- 10: Adds 10 to the card row or subtracts 1. You must decide which value you want when you play the card. No changing your mind later!
- 11: You may EITHER play this card to one of your card rows to add 11, OR you may discard it and trade hands with another player.
- 12: Adds 12 to the card row it is played to.
- SORRY!: Play to the discard pile and draw the top card from the SORRY! card pile.
Winning the Game
The first player to flip over all his/her START cards to HOME cards wins the game.