How to play carrom
Carrom is played on a square wooden board with a pocket in each corner. You flick the striker from your baseline to knock coins into the pockets. Here are the rules for the main games – and you can learn them by playing, free, against friendly bots.
Classic carrom
- Player 1 pots the white coins, player 2 the black ones. Potting one of yours keeps your turn.
- The red queen: pot it, then cover it by potting one of your coins on your very next stroke – otherwise it goes back to the centre. (A coin potted in the same stroke as the queen does not cover it, except your 9th coin.)
- Your last coin cannot go down before the queen is covered – it comes back to the board.
- Foul – striker off the board: your turn ends, that stroke’s coins come back and one of your potted coins is returned.
- Win: all 9 of your coins down once the queen is covered.
Disc Pool
- No queen. Every disc counts for its owner, whoever pots it.
- Pot one of yours to keep your turn; the striker off the board just ends your turn.
- The first side with all 9 discs down wins.
Freestyle
- Any coin scores for whoever pots it: white 20, black 10. The queen is worth 50 once covered.
- Fouls cancel that stroke’s pots and return your latest coin. First to 160 points wins.
Questions
What is the striker?
The larger disc you flick. Place it on your baseline, aim, and pull back to shoot.
Why must the queen be covered?
Potting the queen is only half of it: you must pot one of your own coins straight after, or the queen goes back to the centre.
Which carrom game is easiest for beginners?
Disc Pool: no queen and forgiving fouls. Freestyle and Tal Gach are fun too, as every piece scores.