Thrift Treasure: Shakin’ Sorry

Before you wonder why we’re wasting your time by talking about a game we all had as kids, rest assured that this isn’t the Sorry! you had. In fact, Shakin’ Sorry closely resembles some of the more modern dice games we see issued today! I guess the correct comparison would be to say that many of today’s dice games resemble this early-90’s Parker Brothers game.

Shakin’ Sorry includes 17 custom dice, a dice cup and four game boards in the box. I’d like to point out the quality of the game boards, which include die-cut recessed areas to hold your dice. Setting up the game is very quick with each player receiving their own color game board and four dice with colored dots which are placed in the Start area on their board. The seventeenth die is a special Sorry!/Slide die which will be rolled by every player on their turn.

Starting with the youngest player, you will take any dice on your board’s Start area and add the Sorry!/Slide die to the pool. They are all put into the included cup and rolled. Any dice that result in your color are added to your Home area. Other colors are grabbed by other players with matching board colors and they place them into their Start area to be rolled on their turn.

The blue Sorry!/Slide die has four blank sides which do nothing. If the roll results in it landing on the Sorry! side you get to take one die from any opponent’s Home section and put it in your own Start area to be used on your next turn.

If Slide is the result, you must take one of your own dice from your Home section and put it in the Start area of the opponent immediately to your left. Of course, if you don’t have any in your Home section, nothing happens. But if you had also rolled your color in the same turn, those are placed first so that die would be passed to the next player.

If you are really unlucky and have nothing to roll when your turn comes around, you will still roll the blue Sorry!/Slide die and hope for a Sorry! result so you can steal from someone else! The first player to fill all four spaces in their Home section with dice of their color wins Shakin’ Sorry!

Shakin’ Sorry is best played with the full compliment of four, but there are special rules for two or three. When you roll a color that isn’t being played, those simply go to the next player’s Start area to be rolled on their turn. Of course you don’t use the entire set of dice when there are fewer than four players – each person still starts with just four dice.

Used/collectible copies of Shakin’ Sorry can be found on Amazon for around $13 shipped and sometimes appear on eBay for more or less. Accurately recommended for ages 6+, you can expect a round of Shakin’ Sorry to be completed in under 15 minutes, and usually much less. If you like luck-based games, keep an eye on your thrift store shelves as you’ll certainly enjoy Shakin’ Sorry.

What is your current favorite dice game?