How to play Carrom

Flick the striker off your baseline to pocket your nine coins and cover the queen before the computer clears its own.

Carrom is a flicking game from the Indian subcontinent, played on a square wooden board with pocketed corners. It is often described as finger billiards, and the comparison holds: the physics, the angles and the safety play all transfer, but the striker is flicked rather than cued and the pieces are flat discs, so rebound behaves quite differently.

The setup

Nineteen pieces sit in the centre circle: nine white, nine black, and the red queen in the middle. The standard arrangement puts the queen at the centre surrounded by an inner ring of six alternating coins and an outer ring of twelve. Each player shoots from their own baseline — the pair of parallel lines along their edge — and the striker must touch both baseline lines when placed.

A legal shot

The striker is flicked from behind your baseline and must be struck forward. It may not be placed touching a coin, and on the break the shot must reach the centre group. The turn continues for as long as you pocket one of your own coins, which is what makes carrom a game of runs — a good player can clear several coins in a single visit.

Fouls, and what they cost

Pocketing the striker itself, pocketing an opponent's coin, pocketing no coin at all, or failing to make a legal shot ends the turn. The first two are fouls proper: one of your already-pocketed coins is returned to the centre of the board, which is a genuine penalty because it also re-clutters the middle. Pocketing your own coin and the striker on the same shot still counts as a foul.

The queen, and covering it

The red queen is worth taking but must be *covered*: you have to pocket one of your own coins on the same shot as the queen, or on your next shot. Fail to cover her and she is returned to the centre and is available again to either side. This turns the queen into a timing decision rather than a prize — taking her while you have no easy follow-up shot usually just hands her back with your position worsened.

Winning

A board is won by pocketing all nine of your own coins with the queen covered. In tournament play a match runs to 25 points or eight boards, with the winner of a board scoring the opponent's remaining coins plus three for the queen if they covered her; the version here plays board by board.

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

Strategy tips

Look for the shot with a straight line to a corner first. A clean angle beats an ambitious cut almost every time.
Control power. Most missed carrom shots are too hard — an overhit striker scatters the pack in the opponent's favour and risks the pocket.
Break gently on the first shot if you cannot see a pocket. A tight pack is safer to leave than a spread one.
Take the queen only when you have an obvious cover shot lined up. Uncovered, she goes straight back to the centre and you have spent a turn.
Use the side cushions. A rebound angle often reaches a coin sitting flush against your own baseline, which is otherwise unplayable.
Leave your opponent nothing. If no shot is on, push a coin against a cushion rather than opening the board up.
Reposition the striker along the baseline rather than forcing an angle — a few centimetres often converts an impossible cut into a straight shot.