There is a specific kind of betrayal that only Sorry! can deliver, and reader, I have dealt it to people I love. You are three squares from home, practically smelling victory, and someone flips a Sorry card, plucks your pawn off the board, and slams it down on start with a little smile that says this is nothing personal. It is, of course, entirely personal.

That is the whole gleeful heart of it. No dice, just a deck of cards you flip and obey: nudge a pawn along the track, hit a slide and bowl over anyone in the way, or play the dreaded Sorry and bump a rival all the way back to square one. The lead changes in a heartbeat, nobody is ever truly safe, and a four year old can wipe you out and gloat about it for the rest of the afternoon. (Mine does. Every single time.)

There is barely a strategy here, and that is exactly the point. Sorry! is built for the gasp and the groan, for the cackle when you land the perfect bump and the wounded little “wow, okay” when it happens to you. It is the game I reach for when I want something that asks nothing of anyone except a willingness to be cheerfully ruthless for twenty minutes.

It teaches in a minute, it travels anywhere, and it has kept families happily bickering for decades, because it delivers exactly what it promises: a bouncy little race with just enough cruelty to keep everyone laughing through gritted teeth.

Are you a play it safe runner or a bump everyone you can menace? Tell me below, and tell me about the most satisfying Sorry card you have ever played. I will not judge. I will be impressed.

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