Carrom is a free online version of the Indian board game played with a flick of the finger: a square wooden board, four corner pockets, nine white men, nine black and the red queen in the middle. You play white against a computer rival. Place your striker anywhere along your baseline, pull back and let go, and the physics does the rest — the striker is nearly three times a man's weight, so a full hit drives a man straight and a hard one can follow it in. Sink a man of your own and you strike again. The queen can be taken once you have sunk a white, and must be covered by sinking another of yours straight after or she goes back to the centre. Sinking the striker is a foul that costs a man. Clear your nine with the queen covered to win the board, scored a point for every black still on it and three for the queen. Eight tables, from a veranda game to a champion's board.
How to play Carrom
- Press Play, then Break. You have the nine white men and break first; the computer rival has the nine black. Win a table to open the next one.
- Place your striker anywhere along your baseline, the pair of lines nearest you: drag it along the line, use the Striker slider, or press the left and right arrow keys. A red ring means it is touching a man and cannot go there.
- To flick, press on your striker, drag back the way a catapult is pulled, and let go — the further you pull, the harder the stroke. A dashed guide shows where the striker will first touch a man or a rail, and the short line from that man shows where it will go.
- With a keyboard, A and D (or the up and down arrows) turn the aim; hold Space to build the stroke and let go to flick. Or set the power with the + and − buttons and press Flick.
- Sink a white and you strike again. Sink nothing, or only a black, and the turn passes. A black you sink stays down — it counts for your rival.
- The red queen can be taken once you have sunk at least one white. Then cover her: sink another white on the same stroke or the very next one. If you do not, she goes back to the centre.
- Fouls cost you the turn and a white goes back to the centre: sinking the striker, hitting a man behind your own baseline straight off the striker instead of off a rail or another man first, or sinking your last white while the queen is still out. A foul with no white sunk yet is owed and taken from your next one.
- Clear all nine whites with the queen covered, by either player, and the board is yours: one point for every black still on it, plus three if you covered the queen. Sink your rival's last man while the queen is covered and you hand them the board.
- Stars are for board points: win the board for one, and win by the table's margins for two and three.
Tips
- Straight shots are the safe ones. Line the striker up so the man, the striker and the pocket sit on one line, and play it softly — a hard full hit sends the heavy striker in after the man.
- Use the whole baseline. Moving the striker a few centimetres along the line often turns a thin cut into a straight one.
- Take the queen early, when you have whites near pockets to cover her with. Leaving her to the end means your last white cannot go down until she does.
- A man sitting against a rail near a pocket can be cut along the rail: hit it slightly on the pocket side and the rail steers it in.
- Men that drift behind your baseline can only be reached off a rail. Aim at the far rail and let the striker come back down onto them — it comes off the rail flatter than it went in.
- The break is worth power. Aim a little off the centre of the pack so the striker does not stop dead in the middle.
- When nothing is on, move something. A stroke that breaks up a cluster or knocks a man off a rail sets up your next turn; one that touches nothing gives your rival the same board.
FAQ
Is this carrom game free to play?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All eight tables are included and open one after another as you win them.
How do you win a board of carrom?
Sink all nine of your men and have the red queen covered — by you or by your rival — before your rival clears theirs. The winner scores a point for every one of the loser's men still on the board, and three more for the queen if the winner covered her.
What does covering the queen mean?
After you sink the queen you must sink one of your own men on the same stroke or the next one. That is the cover, and it makes the queen yours. Miss the cover and the queen goes back on the centre spot. You may only take the queen once you have sunk at least one man of your own.
What are the fouls in carrom?
Here there are three: sinking the striker, hitting a man that is behind your own baseline directly off the striker (it has to come off a rail or another man first), and sinking your last man while the queen is still on the board. A foul ends your turn and one of your sunk men goes back to the centre; if you have none sunk yet, you owe one.
Are these the official carrom rules?
They follow the International Carrom Federation rules for one board of singles, simplified in a few ways the page is open about: you always break, a match is one board rather than a race to 25 points, the queen's three points always count, and the striker may sit anywhere along the baseline, including over the red circles at its ends.
How is carrom different from pool or snooker?
There is no cue: you flick a heavy disc, the striker, which starts from your baseline every turn instead of wherever it stopped. The board is square with four corner pockets, every man is the same size, and the striker is nearly three times a man's weight, so it pushes through a man it hits full. 8 Ball Pool and Snooker are both on this site too, if you want a cue.
How good is the computer?
Each table's rival aims straighter and weighs more strokes than the last. Measured over 80 boards a table with two test players: a steady one who aims to within about two-thirds of a degree, strikes with about 8% spread in weight and weighs a dozen strokes, wins nearly every board at the first table, about three in four at the fourth and about three in ten at the last; a sharp one who aims to within a third of a degree, with 5% spread, weighing sixteen strokes, wins about half the boards at the last table. A player who never aims — full power straight up the board — did not win a single board at any table.
Does the computer cheat?
No. It plays the same board with the same physics and the same rules. It looks for every straight or banked shot at its own men and the queen, plays the likeliest out on a copy of the board before choosing, and then flicks with a wobble in its hand, in line and in weight. How big that wobble is, and how many shots it weighs, are the only things that change from one table to the next.
Does carrom work on a phone?
Yes. Held upright the board fills the width with the controls under it; held sideways they sit beside it. Drag back from the striker with a finger to flick, or use the slider and the Flick button. A keyboard works too: arrow keys move the striker, A and D aim, Space builds the stroke.