Sorry! board game question?

Question

Here's something that came up during a game last night. I've read the rules and it was not clear to me. A player had reached the "safety zone" and on the next turn pulled a #4 which instructs him to move backward 4 spaces. (this was the only move he could make as all other pawns were home or start) This moved him out of the "safety zone". Another player was located in the "safety zone" and pulled a #10 card. He could not move any pawns foward 10 but moving his pawn located in "safety zone" backward one would not put him out of the "safety zone", so he didn't do anything. The rule would then read like this...If you are in safety zone and draw a backward card, you only do so if it moves your pawn out of safety zone and onto play field. So if you are one spot away from "home" and you get a #4 card, you don't have to do anything since it would not move you out of safety zone. Does this seem right? Anyone know the rules on this one?

Answer 1

"Safety Zone:  Only you may enter your own color SAFETY ZONE. All other rules apply. No pawn may enter its SAFETY ZONE by a backward move; however, a pawn may move backward out of its SAFETY ZONE and on subsequent turns move back into the ZONE as cards permit."

From this, it seems that a pawn must move backward whether it leaves the safety zone or not. Saying "a pawn may move backward out of its SAFETY ZONE" is not the same as saying "a pawn may ONLY move backward out of its SAFETY ZONE". Suppose the player were to draw multiple backward cards in a row, and the combination then moved them out of the safety zone and back into play? This could have critical consequences.

There is always the risk of being bumped back out of the safety zone. I hope I've interpreted your question correctly.