Sorry People Rev. 4
🔮 The Oracle
Who's riding home tonight?
Pick a person or a computer player for each rider. Two to four people can share this device and take turns; the computer drives any rider left to it.
How to Play Sorry People
The story
It's closing time at the Ponderosa County Fair. The Ferris wheel lights are going dark one string at a time, and four people are stuck with the same problem: getting home on whatever they rode in on.
Bucky is on a riding lawnmower and Terrence is on a borrowed e-bike. Both have been drinking, and both are sure you can't get a DWI on a mower or an e-bike. They are wrong. Bethany is sixteen, on a three-wheel ATV, and out past her curfew. Her dad is waiting on the porch. Chuck is fourteen. He lost all his money playing the Midway games, and his minibike has a tire low on air. His mom wants to know where the money went.
Everyone takes the same county road, so expect some bumping. First one home wins, and the game keeps going until everyone is home and ranked 1st through 4th.
The board
Each rider waits outside a different fair exit: the Main Gate, the Livestock Gate, the Back Parking Lot or the Back Fence Gap. The county road around the fair has 120 spaces, and every rider drives the same distance. Your driveway turns off just before your own exit, and is marked with stones in your color. It has five spaces, then you're home, and only you can drive on it. You must reach home with an exact count.
Shortcuts are the colored stretches of road, four per rider's side. Land on the triangle at the start of another rider's shortcut and you zoom to its end, bumping anyone on it back to their gate. You don't take your own color's shortcuts.
Bumping: land on another rider and they're sent back to their gate. Each rider has one vehicle.
Story stops
Seven spaces on the road are marked with a gold ring and a picture. End your move there and something happens, depending on who you are:
| Gas Station | Bucky buys a six-pack: back 2. Terrence hitches a ride on a tailgate: ahead 3. Bethany fills up and floors it: ahead 3. Chuck can't afford air for his tire: back 2. |
| Cattle Crossing | Everyone waits for the herd: back 1. Bucky stops to argue with a cow: back 3. |
| Church | The preacher lectures Bucky or Terrence: back 2. Bethany prays Dad is asleep: draw again. Chuck finds a dollar: ahead 2. |
| Honky-Tonk | Bucky and Terrence stop for "just one more": lose the next turn. Bethany refuses to go in: ahead 1. The bouncer shoos Chuck away: ahead 2. |
| Sheriff's Office | Bucky and Terrence get pulled over: lose the next turn. The deputy escorts Bethany: ahead 4. He airs up Chuck's tire: ahead 3. |
| Dad's Pickup | Dad catches Bethany: she loses the next turn. Anyone else is asked "Have you seen Bethany?", points the wrong way: ahead 2. |
| Mom's Minivan | Chuck hides in the ditch: loses the next turn. Anyone else: ahead 1. |
A story stop's own move doesn't set off another story stop, but it can still bump riders and take shortcuts.
The cards
| 1 | Leave the fair, or move 1. |
| 2 | Leave the fair, or move 2. Then draw again, even if you couldn't move. |
| 3, 5, 8, 12 | Move that many spaces forward. |
| 4 | Back up 4. Backing up from near your exit can put you right at your driveway. |
| 7 | Move 7. With one vehicle each, the 7 can't be split. |
| 10 | Move 10, or back up 1. |
| 11 | Move 11, or swap places with any rider on the road. If you can't move 11, you may swap or keep your spot. |
| Sorry! | If you're still at the fair, take any rider's spot on the road and send them back to their gate. If you're already on the road, move 4 instead (newer-edition rule). |
You leave the fair only with a 1, a 2 or a Sorry!. If your card has a legal move, you must take it.
The Oracle
The Oracle is your optional advisor. Tap 🔮 to open it, and it stays on duty for each person's turn until you close it. After you draw, it weighs every move your card allows.
It doesn't guess. For each possible move, it plays the rest of the game out to the finish 50,000 times, story stops included, with freshly shuffled cards each time, using the shared Monte Carlo engine. The computer riders play exactly as they would in this game, at their own skill levels. Your later turns, and those of any other people at the table, are played the way the Hard computer player plays. The move that finishes 1st most often is the recommendation. The ± figure is the 95% margin of error. If the top two moves are closer than their margins, the Oracle says they're too close to call instead of pretending one is better.
Tap a move in the Oracle's list to see where it goes on the board. The Oracle only advises you. The computer riders play their own way regardless.
Computer players
Easy picks at random when it has a choice. Medium plays well but is sometimes careless. Hard weighs progress, danger from the riders behind it and who's leading. With one vehicle each, real choices come only on the 10, 11 and Sorry! cards, so luck plays a big part at every level.
The story as you play
Each new game opens with a short tour of the fair at closing time (tap Skip to jump ahead). During play, every card gives a reason for the move, the riders speak up in speech bubbles, and they react when they bump, swap or pass each other.
Moving the camera
Drag on the board to turn and tilt it. Scroll or pinch to zoom. 🎥 Follow makes the camera ride along with whoever is moving. ⤢ Whole board brings back the full view.