Classic Sorry

Last week I mentioned that I'm coming around to the idea that games are fun and that they are enjoyable thing to play with my kids. Up to this point, Daddy has been Chief Game Player in the home but I'm making an effort. Thanks in part to Winning Moves Games, I've been provided with an opportunity to introduce my kids to the types of (simpler) games that I enjoyed playing as I was growing up. This week we played Sorry Classic Edition Board Game.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this game, the rules are simple:

Each player is given four pawns which they have to move in a clock-wise direction around the board, moving their pawns from their individual "start" locations into their individual "home base." The first player to successfully move all four pawns into their home base wins. Each player draws a card on their turn which dictates how many spaces and/or in what manner they are allowed to move their pieces. The name of the game comes from the "Sorry!" card which, if drawn, allows a player to move any one pawn from Start to a square occupied by any opponent, sending the other person's pawn back to its own Start. (This would be my six year old's favorite card and my least.) Certain card numbers require you to move backward for your turn and other cards allow you to split your play up between two pawns. There is some strategy (minimal) involved in working your pawns safely around the board. Furthermore, the game always seems to be moving forward - even if you do have to move a few spaces back) - unlike Chutes and Ladders which feels endlessly futile. (Can I get an Amen? Chutes and Ladders made a mysterious disappearance from our house some time back after I thought that might lose my mind if  I had to play it again. And for the record, I had only played it once!)

Sorry is designed for ages 6 and up but there's no way my 4 year old is going to sit quietly by on the sidelines so we taught him to play it as well. He had a few difficulties in learning to count out the squares and the cards had to be read to him at first. Within a game or two he had picked up the rules and memorized the card instructions well enough to play without a lot of prompting. It should be noted that there is very little reading required to play this game. Number recognition is the big requirement as is playing with someone old enough to read the cards. For example, the number 4 card directs you to move back 4 squares instead of forward.  You won't know this unless you can read the card.

When I play with my 4 and 6 year old it takes roughly 30 minutes to play a game from start to finish.

As an interesting historical note, the game of Sorry! as we know it was first designed and played in England. It was trade-marked by William Henry Storey in 1929. The British manufacturer of the game sold it in in 1934 and that same year Parker Brothers picked it up. The history buff in me also compels me to tell you what world events were happening when this game was first introduced.

In 1929:

- The St. Valentine's Massacre occurred.
- The Vatican City gained its independence from Italy.
- The first Academy Awards were hosted in Los Angeles.
- The Geneva Convention was held in Switzerland, discussing the treatment of POWs in WWI.

And, of course, there was also that great Wall Street Crash which turned the United States upside down.

Now you know. You're welcome.

Winning Moves has reissued the game with its classic look which, as I also mentioned last week, has great appeal to me. When I'm going to sit down with a game I'm not looking for flash and dazzle but simplicity. This classic version provides just that which is important, so that we can play and concentrate on learning to count out squares! (Who knew this was an issue, right?! You forget about having to learn these things as a kid.)

Thanks to Winning Moves for providing a copy of Sorry Classic Edition to my family in exchange for our honest thoughts. We honestly found it to be very enjoyable!