Children playing carrom
Carrom is a family of tabletop games sharing a similarity in that their mechanics lie somewhere between billiards and table shuffleboard. The game is known by other names around the world, including carrum, couronne, carum, karam, karom, karum, fatta (Punjabi) and finger billiards. According to some sources, the game is thought to have originated in India. Formal rules for the game were published only by 1988. The game and its variants are played in many countries across the world. Carrom employs simple equipment enabling a wider player-base. Variants of Carrom that employ cue sticks also exist.
Origins
The origin of Carrom is uncertain. Sources suggest that the game is of Indian origin. Variations of the game played with a Cue stick similar to billiards-type games may have independently developed. Such similarity is evident in games such as Table shuffleboard.
The International Carrom Federation (ICF) was formed in the year 1988 in the city of Chennai. In the same year, the rules for playing Carrom were formally codified.
The game is very popular in South Asia (Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Pakistan). Similar games are played throughout the world, and may or may not share common origins with Carrom. There is a Carrom-like game also played with cues in China. Games similar to Carrom appear all over Asia, for example vindi vindi in Fiji and szhe szhe in Israel. Some variants make use of discarded objects instead of fashioned playing pieces; bottle caps are used for games similar to Carrom in both Mexico and Java.[citation needed] Various North American and European games bear a resemblance to (and may be related to) Carrom, including Crokinole, Pitchnut, Pichenotte and Novuss.
Equipment
In India, the game is played on a board made of lacquered plywood. The dimensions of the standardised Indian game is a a 29 inches (74 cm) square playing surface on a board of lacquered plywood. The edges of the playing surface are bounded by bumpers of wood, and the bottom of the board is covered by a net which is 10 cm2 or larger. Carrom uses disks, and not balls. The objective of play is to use a striker with a flick of the finger to make contact with and move lighter object disks called 'carrom-men'. The 'carrom-men' are thus propelled into one of four corner pockets.
Carrom-men
Carrom is played on the board using carrom-men. A carrom-man (also carrom man, carromman, carroman; plural -men) is sometimes abbreviated c/m. Carrom-men are also known by colloquial terms such as seed, coin, puck, or goti). The Carrom man is a usually wooden or plastic in exceptions. The Carrom-man is a uniform small disk used in playing carrom. The Carrom-men have a smooth movement in a flat position on the surface of the carrom board when hit by a striker of standard specification.
The carrom-men are available in three distinct colors. Two colours are meant to represent invidual or team opponents. These colors are white (or unstained) and black. Red is a special color that designates the queen.
ICF approved pieces must have a diameter of no more than 3.18 cm and no less than 3.02 cm. The pieces must be at least 7 mm and at most 9 mm thick. The pieces have a plain, rounded edge. The mass of the pieces is within 5 g and 5.5 g.
Modern references prefer the term carrom pieces to carrom men for gender neutrality.
The Queen
The red coin (or disk or seed) is called the Queen. The Queen is the most powerful carrom piece. During board setup, it is placed at the center of the circle. In accordance with the ICF rules, pocketing the 'Queen' adds 3 points to the player's total score. The dimensions of the 'queen' must be the same as those of other carrom-men.
The player must pocket the 'queen' and subsequently pocket a carrom-man of the color chosen by the other player This is termed covering the queen.
If the player fails to pocket a subsequent carrom-man, the queen is replaced at the center of the circle. The player is further penalised by being forced to skip the next turn.
If the player subsequently pockets a carrom-man of the color chosen by him, he loses the game.
When playing for a cumulative point, the player must pocket a white coin.
The Striker
The Striker is larger and heavier than the carrom-men. According to ICF rules, "the striker shall be smooth and round, with a diameter that does not exceed 4.13 cm." Its weight should not be more than 15 grams. Ivory and metal strikers are not allowed in tournaments. The Striker can be flicked with a finger to hit carrom-men into corner pockets or against another.
Powder
Fine-grained powder is used on the board to enable the pieces to slide easily. Boric acid powder is the most commonly used for this purpose.
In the UK, many players use a version of anti-set-off spray powder from the printing industry which has specific electrostatic properties with particles of 50 micrometres in diameter. The powder is made from pure, food-grade vegetable starch.
Standardised rules and regulations
The ICF promulgates International Rules of Carrom (also termed 'The Laws of Carrom.') ICF acts as the governing body of carrom. The organisation also ranks players, sanctions tournaments and presents awards. ICF has many national affiliates such as the All-India Carrom Federation, Australian Carrom Federation, UK Carrom Association and United States Carrom Association.
The toss
Order of play is determined by the process of "calling the carrom-men" or, simply, "the toss". Before commencing each match, a umpire hides one black and one white carrom-man in his hands. The players must guess which color carrom-men are being held in each hand. The player who guesses correctly wins the toss.
The winner of the toss must either choose to strike first or to change sides (from white to black) and give up the opening break. No option to pass this decision to the other player is available. If the player chooses to strike, the loser can change sides, but if the winner chooses to change sides the loser must strike first. The player taking the first shot (or break) gets to play white. The opponent plays black.
In a doubles event, the team winning the toss has the choice, as above. Once the players are seated, they may not interchange. This seating order continues throughout the match.
Shooting
The aim of the game is to pot (or pocket) one's own nine carrom men before one's opponent pots his/hers. It is necessary that the 'Queen' must be pocketed before pocketing a player's final carrom man. Any player pocketing the 'Queen' is required it cover it by pocketing a carrom man of his/her chosen color. The player is allowed to shoot with any finger, including the thumb (known as "thumbing" or a "thumb shot").
Crossing the diagonal lines on the board by coming in touch with it, or pocketing the Striker is a Foul. A player committing a foul must return one carrom-man that was already pocketed. If a player pockets his Striker, he has to pay a penalty. This penalty is usually 10 points.
Point carrom
Point Carrom is a variant that is popular with children or an odd number of players. Game play is as described above with a variation. Players are allowed to pocket carrom men of any color. Carrom men of one color are assigned 1 point and the other color are assigned 2 points. The red Queen is assigned 5 points. Pocketing the Queen must be followed by pocketing another carrom man on the same or subsequent strike. The first player to reach 17 points is declared the winner. If no player reaches 17 points, the player with the highest points is declared the winner. If the scores are tied, a tie-breaker must be played. Players who are tied (in points) select a color. They are allowed to pocket carrom men of an alternate color only on rebound.
Board variations
Carrom boards are available in various board sizes and corner pocket sizes. There are smaller boards and boards with larger pockets. Boards with larger pockets are used by beginners for easier game play. On traditional carrom boards, the corner pockets are only slightly larger than the carrom men, but smaller than the striker. On boards with larger pockets, it is possible to pocket the striker, resulting in a "scratch shot" as in Pool. This results in a "due." On a "due", the player has to replace one previously pocketed carrom man on the board. When the scores are tied at a point in the carrom game, a tie-breaker is played. The team which has pocketed the "Queen" does not gain any advantage.
American carrom
A simple American version with cue sticks and a chess/checkers pattern. Note the pockets, which are much larger than traditional Indian carrom holes.
A more elaborate American board, with even more markings for other games.
American carrom is a variant[clarification needed] on carrom derived in America by missionaries to the East, around 1890.[citation needed] Believing that the game required restructuring for Western tastes, a Sunday school teacher named Henry Haskell altered the game.[citation needed] Much of the game is the same, but the striker's weight is reduced and the carrom men are smaller. Generally, instead of disks of solid wood, ivory, or acrylic, carrom men (including the striker) are rings, originally of wood but today commercially made of light plastic. In addition, as an alternative to using the fingers to flick the striker, some of the American carrom boards uses miniature cue sticks. American carrom boards also have pockets built into the corners, rather than circular holes in the board, to make pocketing easier. While traditionally made boards vary widely, current commercially produced American carrom boards are 28 inches (710 mm) square, are printed with checkerboard and backgammon patterns, among others, and are sold with checkers, chess pieces, skittles, etc., to allow other games to be played on the same board. Often, these boards are also built to play crokinole.
Variations
A version of American carrom was played in Southern California schools in the 1950s-1980s, using a somewhat larger square board and wooden rings struck with cue sticks.[citation needed] There was both a golf version and a maze version. In the golf version, there was a series of nine "holes" (really just green areas on the board.) A player had to start at the tee for a particular hole and get a carrom coin completely within the green region to advance to the next hole. Sand trap hazards would cause the player to lose a stroke and lake hazards would cause the player to lose two.[citation needed] A modified commercial version also exists. In the maze version, the playing board was divided by wooden rails into a maze of spiral corridors. The object was to be the first to get to the center. The surface was marked with areas that would send the player forward or back if landed on, similar to other board games. A commercial version of this is now also available.
Novuss
A popular variant in Latvia and Estonia is called novuss (or koroona), and is subject to notable amateur and even professional competition between the two countries. Like the American game, it is played with cue sticks (but they are much closer in size to pool cues, and the game is played while standing), and the board has comparatively large netted corner pockets instead of simple round holes. The board is 40 inches (100 cm) square, mounted on a roughly groin-height table, and there are two striker pucks (one for each player), eight object disks ("men") per player, and no queen. The game dates to the mid-to-late 1920s, the first professional match was held in 1932, Latvian national championship began in 1964, and "international" (i.e. Latvia vs. Estonia) competition began in 1993. There are an estimated 55,000 players.
Filipino carrom
A cued variant of carrom is also played in the Philippines, and is called "karambola" and "pool table". It is similar to novuss, but both players use the same puck for striking with their cues, and only twelve object disks (six per player) are used. The table is usually rotateable so that the players would not have to move to where they will strike the puck, and just rotate the table to a position they are comfortable making a shot at.[citation needed]
Australian carrom
Australian carrom, also known by the trademark Puckpool, is a variation created in the mid-1990s. Like the Indian game, it is played with the hands directly, without cue sticks, but has essentially adopted many of the rules of the popular pool game blackball. Australian carrom is only played with eight pucks per side (whites vs. blacks) as opposed to nine, and calls the "queen" the "crown" or the "colored puck" instead. Shots are taken from each player's "driveline" (a line on the board near the rim of the playing surface closest to the player). Only one striker is used, shots are taken in turn, and all shots are taken from the player's driveline (unlike in blackball). The commercial variant is played without the use of powder, on a smooth, 735 mm (29 in.) square-surfaced, coin-operated machine reminiscent of table-top video games of 1980s, intended for pubs and similar venues.
Japanese carrom
Carrom was introduced to Japan in the last years of the Meiji period or Taishō period by someone from the UK and in the early Shōwa period by someone from the USA. In the middle Shōwa period, carrom was called "fighting ball board" or "tossing ball board" and was a popular board game throughout Japan. Carrom gradually lost popularity, but is still played in Hikone, Shiga. In Hikone, carrom is called karomu and many homes have their own carrom boards and use derivative rules.
Other related or similar games
The chiefly North American games crokinole and pichenotte (and the latter's derivative, pitchnut), bear a striking resemblance to carrom, and may be local variants of it. The Russian game chapayev is seemingly a hybrid of draughts (checkers) and carrom. In Denmark a game called bob (or bobspil), similar to carrom, is played with cues rather than fingers.
Do you know how to order a carrom maze board? Or do you have a picture of one? I would like to get one for my grandchildren.
ReplyDeleterayetta55@gmail.com