Carrom Board Rules and Guidlines
When we start talking about board games we must know about them thoroughly to comment on them. Hence it is said that one can never learn any sport or game if he or she is unaware of its minute details such as its rules, regulations, guidelines, fault lines, etc. In childhood, most of us have played carom and it’s a very fun game that includes concentration and a lot of precision work.
Nowadays people have been so much into the internet and phone that now it’s easy to play carom on apps with random players or your family and friends online no matter how far they are. Therefore, carom has a different set of guidelines and rules as per the game. So let’s dive into the world of carom and understand how to play this game like a pro. But before directly jumping to the rules let’s know the basics about carrom board.
Basic of Carrom Board
- It is a board game and originated in India.
- This game is well known as a table top game way before created existence in the app world.
- This game can be played among 2 or 4 people if talking about a normal board game. But in the application 6 player options are also provided.
- Carrom is a finger striker game and the games are coordination of precision of your mind and fingers.
- There are two types of coloured circular pieces i.e black and white and one pink which is considered to be the queen and carries the highest value if struck in the pocket.
- These strikers only make the game interesting as well as work great for brainstorming.
- This level of the game varies from very easy to difficult depending on the type of player you are playing with.
Therefore, when talking about the carrom board game it is made in India it has been a traditional game for years and currently is popular all around the world. Hence after knowing the basics let's now understand the pieces of games as it will be easier to understand the rules and regulations then.
Learning about the carrom board pieces
The game pieces are approved by ICF and need to be within the diameter of 3.18 cm to 2.02 cm. The thickness can be 7 to 9 mm not more than that. The shape of the pieces needs to be always round so that they can slide easily on the board and lastly the weight need to be within 5.0 to 5.5. gram.
There are 3 main pieces of the game:
- Striker which is used to strike the other pieces into the goal.
- The queen whom all the player tries to protect as well as to strike to the goal for getting higher points.
- The board pieces are usually black and white and carry nominal points.
Before starting the game, the below carrom board accessories you must have to arrange the setup of the board game:
- Game pieces i.e. 9 white pieces and 9 black pieces.
- Carrom Board.
- Carrom board folding stand (It option as many people tend to keep it on a normal table or flat floor surface.)
- Striker
- The Queen
- Powder (It is optional as many believe tend to get sweaty hands and hence like to use powder for dry and smooth playing.)
Therefore, after getting all the carrom board accessories together let's arrange them as per the rules. The arrangement is very important because without proper arrangement one can’t start to play.
- The black and white pieces are arranged in a standing positing one on the other. Two such lines will be there one black and the other white standing adjacent to it.
- The queen then must be placed in a way that half of its side is on black and the other half is touching the white so the placement must be in the centre of both the standing pieces.
- The board must be smooth hence one can use boric powder or any talcum powder of their choice.
Understanding how to play carom
Carrom can be purchased anywhere such as carrom board for home use or office use or your private fun space or maybe for school. This is a widely loved game. So as it is loved by many it also becomes mandatory to understand how it can be played properly. Therefore, after arranging the board let's learn how to play carom effectively like a pro.
1. The beginning: There will be only one player who would be the one to strike the standing black and white pieces. Hence it’s called the break-in shot. Therefore, after the break in when all the pieces have fallen on the board the main motive of the entire player is to scatter all the pieces using the striker as well as to save the queen so that your opponent does not take it away.
- Not to forget while breaking it: If the first player fails to strike all the pieces down the turns go to the next player to strike all the pieces down on the board.
- If you by chance miss to striker shot, then you get another chance. The only condition is if the striker is still on the lines and has not moved out of it you get a chance up to three times.
- If in the beginning only you have a striker down any piece into the pocket, then you get another chance. Therefore, for every piece into the pocket one get another free chance.
- Every striking shot needs to be within the two lines that are also known as the baseline.
2. Follow the line: There are two lines on all four sides of the board where the striker has to be placed. Thus every player must follow the line while striking the pieces into the hole.
3. Knowing the turns one gets:
Every player gets one chance at least.
- For every piece getting into the pocket, you get another free turn.
- If you are continuously without break striking the pieces into the pocket you get free chances.
- If you fail yours turn your opponent gets the turn.
- The turns occur in an anti-clockwise direction i.e. from right to left.
4. Protecting the Queen:
One can only strike the queen to pocket only if he or she has struck at least one dice into the pocket.
- If by chance you have struck down queen as your first goal, then you get one turn to try to put one piece into the pocket so that you can keep it.
- If you fail to put any piece into the pocket, then the queen is returned to the centre. This is for only those players who don’t have any other piece and their first piece is the queen.
- Queen can never be struck to the pocket last one of the players has to pocket down the queen before any last piece is left on board.
As said this game is of coordination of fingers and mind. Therefore, one needs to be aware of how they are playing and striking. When we talk about games it is also very necessary to understand the scoring areas and areas that can give you a foul. Also it is seen as per statistics that most carrom board for home use are popular rather than any other space. So now let’s see in what all places one can get scoring and foul on a carrom board game.
Areas that are considered foul
- If while striking you accidentally strike the striker into the pocket it is considered foul.
- If you pocket down your opponent's pieces, then it is considered a foul.
- If you strike any piece hard enough that it moves out of the board then it is a foul.
- If the last pieces are struck to the pocket before the queen is then it is considered foul.
- If the player has not kept the striker in the proper position and within the line, then it is considered a foul.
- The arm position of the person also needs to be proper if not then it’s a foul.
- In the beginning, if the first person is not able to strike down the pieces in all three attempts it’s a foul.
The area that is considered to be scoring
- In a carom game, a round is called a board.
- If you were able to protect and score the queen, you need to put down all the other game pieces of your side into the pocket to win the match.
- If the scoring has reached 22 then you don’t get any point for the queen, you have reserved.
- If any player or team hits a score of 29 or more, then they are considered to be the winner.
- Usually, the queen has a score of 5 points hence striker her in the pocket and helps in changing the game into anyone’s favour.
Therefore, carom being such worldwide loved game research has proved that the ancient games of India were very much powerful in terms of increasing our human brain functioning. Games like this make the mind not only sharp but vigilant while working. Hence that is why if we see the past of India kings or rulers used were very fond of playing such games and showed intriguing importance to it from childhood.
Hence the above is a detailed guide on how to play carom carefully and what all things need to be taken care of while playing the game. If one follows the above-detailed guide of rules and regulations, then one can be a pro player of carom board very easily. Not to forget if you are a beginner then don’t try to hurry things up Being a pro requires time effort and practice. Therefore, be consistent and you will be able to master the skill easily.
