Carrom Online
Carrom is a classic table game from India: with a flick of the striker, you pocket your pieces into the 4 corners of the board. Play against the computer or a friend on the same device.
Choose the game mode. The player at the bottom has the white pieces and starts.
How to play Carrom
Carrom was born in India and is very popular there and across South Asia. The board is a square wooden table with a pocket in each corner, usually dusted with fine powder so the pieces glide better. At the center sit 9 white pieces, 9 black pieces and the red queen. The player at the bottom has the white pieces; the opponent at the top has the black ones.
On your turn, slide the striker (the blue piece, larger and heavier) along your baseline. Then pull it back from any point on the board, like a slingshot, and release: the dashed line shows the direction and the colored bar shows the power. In real life the shot is a flick with the finger; here you can also adjust position, direction and power with the controls below the board and tap “Shoot”.
If you pocket one of your own pieces, you play again; if only an opponent’s piece goes in, your turn ends (and it counts for them). If the striker falls into a pocket it is a foul: you lose your turn and one of your pocketed pieces returns to the center. The queen must be “covered”: after pocketing it, you have to pocket one of your own pieces in the same shot or the next, or the queen goes back to the center. The winner is whoever pockets all 9 of their pieces, but the last one only counts after someone has covered the queen.
Frequently asked questions
Where does Carrom come from?
Carrom comes from India, where it has been played for generations at home, in clubs and even on the street, across India and South Asia. There it is traditional to play with the fingers, flicking the striker across a wooden board dusted with powder so it slides.
What happens if I pocket the opponent’s piece?
It goes into the pocket and counts for your opponent, and your turn ends (unless you also pocketed one of your own pieces in the same shot). The only exception is their last piece: knocking that one in is a foul and it returns to the center.
How does the queen work?
The red queen only stays with the player who “covers” it, pocketing one of their own pieces in the same shot or the next. If they cannot, it goes back to the center. Nobody can win until the queen has been covered.