Board
Carrom
Flick the striker to pocket your coins and cover the red Queen. Official or family points, 1 v 1, 2 v 2 teams or four players, against bots, on one device or online.
Carrom guide
The classic flick-and-pocket board game: slide your striker, pull back like a slingshot and sink your coins before your rivals.
How to play Carrom
- Pick a table: 1 v 1, 2 v 2 teams with partners sitting opposite, or four separate players. Play against bots (Easy, Medium or Hard), on one device, or online.
- Choose the rules: Official (each side owns a colour) or Family points (every piece scores). Four separate players always play Family points.
- On your turn, slide the striker along your baseline between the two red circles. It cannot sit on top of a piece.
- Pull back from the striker like a slingshot: the direction you pull aims the shot the opposite way and the distance sets the power. A guide line shows where the striker will hit. Release to shoot.
- Shots go forward only. Your side of the board is always at the bottom of your screen.
Rules
- Official: the board has 9 white, 9 black and 1 red Queen. The side that breaks plays white; teammates share a colour. Pocket one of your own pieces and you shoot again.
- The Queen must be covered: after pocketing her, pocket one of your own pieces in the same or the very next shot. If you do not, she goes back to the centre.
- Fouls end your turn and return one of your pocketed pieces to the centre (owed if you have none yet): pocketing the striker, sinking the other side’s last piece, or sinking your own last piece before the Queen is covered.
- Pocketing the striker also puts back your own pieces sunk in that shot, and the Queen if she went down in that shot or was still waiting to be covered.
- Pocketing the Queen on her own keeps your turn, so you can try to cover her straight away.
- A board ends when a side pockets all nine of its pieces. It scores 1 point for each piece the other side still has on the board, plus 3 for the Queen if the winner covered her and had fewer than 22 points. Play one board, or first to 25 points (at most 8 boards, then the most points wins).
- Family points: any piece scores for whoever pockets it, white 20, black 10 and the Queen 50 (she must be covered by pocketing any piece in the same or next shot). Pocketing anything keeps your turn. Pocketing the striker costs 10 points and returns that shot’s pieces. When the board is clear, the most points wins.
- Online, each shot has 30 seconds; if time runs out your turn passes. The server checks every shot and every screen replays exactly the same physics.
Tips and strategy
- Aim at the far side of a coin to cut it toward a pocket: the guide line shows the direction the coin will travel.
- Soft shots keep the striker out of the pockets. Save full power for the break and for scattering clusters.
- In Official rules, leave the Queen until you have a cover shot lined up: a missed cover sends her back to the centre.
- Move the striker along the baseline first; a straight shot is easier than a sharp cut.
Questions
Can I play Carrom against the computer?
Yes. Choose Play vs bots for 1 v 1, a 2 v 2 with a bot partner, or a four-player game against three bots, at Easy, Medium or Hard.
What is the difference between Official and Family rules?
Official rules give each side a colour, score boards by the pieces the loser has left and require the Queen to be covered. Family points let everyone pocket any piece for points: white 20, black 10, Queen 50.
How do 2 v 2 teams work?
Partners sit opposite each other and share a colour (Official) or a score (Family). Turns go round the table so the teams alternate.
Do I earn rewards for Carrom?
Online matches earn XP and Gems like other online games, for both partners in a winning team. Signed-in players also earn a little XP for beating bots.
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