Carrom
Flick the striker off your baseline to pocket your nine coins and cover the queen before the computer clears its own.
About this game
Carrom is the flick-and-pocket game played on a polished wooden board — part billiards, part shuffleboard, all wrist. You take the white coins against the computer's black, and the only thing you ever touch is the striker: a heavier disc you set anywhere along your baseline and snap forward into the cluster, hunting the four corner pockets. Pocket one of your own coins and you shoot again; miss, or sink the striker itself, and the turn — and a coin — goes the other way. At the centre sits the red queen, and she is the whole tension of the game. She is worth taking, but you cannot simply pocket her and move on: you must cover her, sinking one of your own coins on the same shot or the very next one, or she is placed straight back on the centre spot for anyone to fight over again. Clear all nine of your coins and cover the queen, and the board is yours. The board runs on real physics rather than scripted outcomes: the striker is genuinely heavier than the coins, cushions damp the bounce, and a hard break scatters the pack differently every time, so angles and rebounds behave the way your eye expects. Position the striker, pull back to aim and set power, and read the line before you let go — a thin cut to send a coin along the rail, a dead-centre smash to open the pack, a soft tap to nudge the queen off the spot. The computer plays by trying its shots the same way you do, simulating each one before it commits, and comes in three strengths: Easy for a shaky, forgiving rival, Normal for a steady one, and Hard for an opponent that lines up its cuts and rarely leaves the queen for you. No download, no account — just the board, the striker and a clean line to the pocket.
Controls
Drag the striker left or right along your baseline to position it.
- Then press on the striker and pull back to aim and set power — the further you pull, the harder the flick
- Release to shoot
- A coin with a clear line to a corner pocket is the shot to look for
How to play
You are the white coins; the computer is black. Place the striker anywhere on your baseline, then pull back and release to flick it into the coins, aiming for the four corner pockets.
Keeping your turn
- Pocket one of your own coins and you keep shooting.
- Pocket nothing, sink the striker, or pocket an opponent's coin and the turn passes (a foul returns one of your coins to the board).
The queen
- The red queen must be covered — you must pocket one of your own coins on the same shot as the queen or on your next one, or she returns to the centre.
- Win by pocketing all nine of your coins with the queen covered before the computer does the same.
Details
- Category
- Board
- Platform
- Web browser
- Rules
- Full rules
- Price
- Free
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