Sorry is actually another game I did play a lot as a kid. It's not something I remember super dearly or anything, I just have these very distinct memories of having played it as a child. There's not really much to it, visually, that makes it all that interesting, either. It's a very simple board design, the pieces look like deformed chess pawns and overall it's just rather meh in its look. Let's start off this blog post with a fun fact, which is Sorry actually originated from the UK, and it makes sense, doesn't it? Only the UK would have a game with an apologetic polite word for its title.
I'm gonna be frank with you guys, there's not a whole lot to discuss here. It's a fairly straight forward game, it's not very interesting visually and it's not got a very in depth history to it. The colors of the board and pieces all work really well together, I'll give it that much. Red, Teal, Yellow and Blue all somehow work, and I think it's because that green is such an offset color from ordinary green that it gives the game, pieces and board, something unique instead of something we've seen a million times over.
The game is from 1929, so it's 91 years old, and it's a fairly simple game to play. It's not Candy Land simple, but it's still simple enough. I was a kid and I was able to play it, and I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box. And as with most games, there have been electronic versions released, handheld, console and computer alike. Even some variations on the board game itself have come to pass, such as including Fire & Ice powerups, which frankly, in a board game, is a ridiculous idea and should never have been included, but that's just me.
In fact, about the only truly interesting thing about Sorry is that it's got an adult spin off.
Sorry! Not Sorry! is an adult themed edition, which is essentially the same game but with several new cards each containing the always too prominent "have you ever?" question. And this is where I draw the line for something, right here, right now. STOP MAKING ADULT VERSIONS OF BOARD GAMES. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a board game in and of itself that would indicate the necessity for an adult variation on said game. It's weird and gross and frankly, you should just play Sorry if you're wanting to play Sorry, and not some bizarre pseudo adult offshoot. And for the record, I'm not a prude, I'm a fairly disgusting lady who watches way more adult content than she probably should.
But this happens all. the. time. I cannot even begin to tell you how many "adult" versions of stuff I've seen out there based on perfectly fine pre-existing IP, and that doesn't even include the fact that it spawned an entire genre of wholly original adult board games as well, which is a whole other kettle of problems. This is only on par with the all too ironic fact that Monopoly is the single most selling out board game of all time, wrapping its branding around any franchisee who comes within a foot of popularity. Monopoly is a downright skank, and we'll discuss that when we get to Monopoly. Until then, let's discuss adult board games, or rather, adult versions of kid board games.
Hasbro released an entire line of "parody" versions of their classic games, and I'm sorry but the word "parody" isn't the right word to use when you're knowingly doing this to get money from a singular audience, that being the adult audience. This is just, once again, selling out to a new market to further your revenue stream.
There's Mystery Date Catfished which is basically Mystery Date with the chance of being lied to about your potential new romantic interest. There's Game of Life Quarter Life Crisis which is basically game of Life but with "new" adult topics such as dropping your phone in the toilet or recovering from your soul crushing student debt. These aren't funny, nor are they solely related to adults because everyone now has a phone and they could easily drop it into the toilet at any given moment. There's probably my least favorite of them all, which is Clue What Happened Last Night Lost In Vegas, in which it's basically the fucking Hangover. So if you enjoyed that shitastic movie, you're sure to enjoy a loosely disguised board game essentially covering the same concept.
And let me make this very clear, there's nothing inherently wrong with an "Adult" board game. But when you use the term "Adult" it often refers to "adult" things like swearing, sexual interactions, alcohol/drug related topics and the like. This is a big problem for the adult animation industry especially, and why it took so long to be recognized as legitimate entertainment and not just crude low brow cartoons. So for example, there are genuine adult board games, games like Settlers of Catan, which is just too complex and frankly kind of boring for a kid to enjoy. And that's totally fine. What I have a problem with are these god awful "parody" versions which essentially just have the same game but oh you might have sex in it or something.
Just play Sorry. There's nothing wrong with Sorry. Okay, granted, it's not the most interesting game in the world, but it's still better than whatever god awful joke game they came up with to entice the adult market that thrives on "ironic" cheeseburgers and wears "i went to college and all i got was financially ruined" t-shirts or some shit.
I'm sorry this post had not a whole lot to do with Sorry itself, which is guess is the ultimate joke here is me apologizing for it, but once I discovered the "adult" version I really got annoyed and had to go off on a tagent only somewhat related to the original concept of the post. Just play Sorry, because guess what, if you play the "parody" version, I guarantee you'll be sorry you did, and that's where the similarities will end.
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