Carrom.

How to play Carrom

1. Press Play, select a rules mode and choose Play CPU or Two players. For a computer match, pick Casual, Club or Expert before starting.
2. Read the color above the board. You begin as Ivory. In assigned-color modes, aim to pocket your own pieces; in Freestyle every color can score.
3. Move the slider under the board to set the striker position. A coin occupying part of the baseline can block that placement, so choose a free space.
4. Press the striker, pull in the direction opposite your intended shot, and release. The dotted line shows your first contact while the power bar tracks the pull distance.
5. Watch all pieces settle before the next shot. Your own legal pot retains the turn. A miss passes it, while a foul returns the appropriate coins and passes play.
6. Cover the queen before clearing your final coin in Carrom, clear all nine coins in Disc Pool, or reach one hundred and twenty in Freestyle. Use Play again for a fresh board.

Make your move

About Carrom

Carrom is a free browser board game about placement, touch and angle. A large striker rests on your baseline, with a compact rack of ivory and charcoal coins in the middle of a polished wooden board. Four corner pockets reward a clear line. Slide the control beneath the board to move the striker left or right, then pull backward from it and release. A short pull gives a gentle push; a longer one breaks the rack apart or sends a coin off a cushion. The dotted guide helps you see the first contact, but your chosen strength decides how the remaining motion unfolds.

The classic Carrom mode gives each player nine coins of one color and adds a red queen. Pocketing your own color earns another shot. You must cover the queen with one of your own coins during the same ongoing turn, either in the queen shot or the immediate follow-up. If that follow-up misses, the queen returns to the middle. Clearing your final coin while the queen remains uncovered is a foul, so keep an ordinary coin available for the cover. A pocketed striker also ends your turn and returns a penalty coin when one is available. These rules make the end of a board a small tactical puzzle.

Disc Pool removes the queen and focuses on a direct race to clear nine assigned coins. Freestyle opens the entire board to either player: black coins are worth ten points, ivory coins twenty and the queen fifty. The first player to reach one hundred and twenty wins. Each mode uses the same sliding and collision physics, so the touch you learn in one mode transfers to the others. A thirty-second clock keeps turns moving. The clock and physics stop when you open the game menu or pause through the player controls.

CPU opponents come in three strengths. They examine possible placements, open routes and pocket angles, then take their shots under the same board rules. Casual leaves more aiming error, Club is a balanced match and Expert takes its geometric targets seriously. Local two-player mode uses one screen and rotates the view for the next player, making it easy to pass a phone or share a mouse. All opponents are clearly identified; there is no online matchmaking or simulated claim that a computer is a live person. Completed matches and CPU wins are stored in this browser when local storage is available.

A little help for your next high score

• Find an open line before adding power. Moving the striker often turns a difficult cut into a direct pot without needing a hard shot.
• A heavy break spreads the rack, but softer shots are easier to control once coins sit near a pocket. Watch how far a coin travels after the first collision.
• In Carrom, leave yourself a clear cover coin before aiming for the queen. A queen with no useful follow-up can become your opponent’s opportunity.
• Avoid lining up your striker with a pocket beyond the target coin. A successful pot followed by a scratch still costs your turn.
• Use a cushion when a direct route is blocked. A glancing rebound preserves a different direction and less speed, so account for both the angle and the distance.

Good questions