Outdoor & pub games
Carrom
- players
- 2–4
- minutes
- 30
- years
- 6+
In the box
1 square board with four pockets · 9 white pieces and 9 black pieces · 1 red queen · 1 striker
Box details
- Origin
- Traditional game, with no specific designer or publisher
- Mechanics
- DexterityCapture
Where to buy it
Near you
In a shop
Within 50 km.
The basics
Pocket all your pieces in the four pockets of the board, then the queen. Flick the striker without going over the baselines; pocketing a piece of your colour gives you another shot, pocketing the striker costs you a piece. The board ends when a player has pocketed everything, covered queen included, and scores one point per opposing piece left, plus three for the queen if they covered it; the game is played to twenty-five points or over eight boards.
The rules, step by step
Setup
4 corner pockets, 19 pieces with the queen, Striker on the baseline
- A square board dusted with boric acid powder, with four pockets in the corners.
- Nineteen pieces in the centre: nine light, nine dark, and the red queen in the middle.
- A shooting disc, the striker, is placed on the baseline.
How to play
Flick the striker, Pocket a piece: go again, Pocket striker: −1 piece
- You flick the striker, without going over the baselines.
- Pocketing a piece of your colour gives you another shot.
- Pocketing the striker costs you a piece, put back in the centre by your opponent.
Scoring
1 per opposing piece, Covered queen +3
- The winner of a board scores one point per opposing piece left on the board.
- The queen gives them three more points if they covered it: you must pocket a piece of your colour straight after her, otherwise she goes back to the centre. If the loser covered her, nobody scores those three points.
- A player who has reached 22 points no longer scores anything for the queen.
End of the game
All your pieces pocketed, 25 points or 8 boards
- The board ends when a player has pocketed all their pieces, including the covered queen.
- The game is played to twenty-five points, or over eight boards depending on the federation.
House rules and pitfalls
The boric acid powder is not a detail: without it, the board drags and the game becomes unplayable.
- The boric acid powder is not a detail: without it, the board drags and the game becomes unplayable.
- A piece left on the edge of a pocket is played like any other: there is no easy shot.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
What happens if you pocket the queen without covering it?
It is put back in the centre of the board. To keep it, you must pocket a piece of your colour with your next shot: this is called covering it.