Carrom As An Indoor Game Checks All The Right Boxes. Here Is How
Carrom is a highly favored game in South Asia and among Asians no matter where in the world they are. As a game, carrom requires players to strategize and display dexterity. The carrom board bears a passing resemblance to the billiards table, though the rules vary.
The aim is to pocket as many coins as possible by directing them into one of the pockets in the board’s four corners. This is the game of carrom in a nutshell. For enthusiasts looking for in-depth information on how to play the game, they can look up the guide by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Carrom Ticks Off All The Boxes Of Being An Ideal Indoor Game
Some of the facets that make it so are shared below:
1. Can Be Played All Through The Day And Night!
This is the most apparent characteristic defining carrom as an indoor game. Unlike outdoor games, which need a lot of natural light, indoor games such as carrom have no such restrictions. Though the participants need light to play, the indoor variety is sufficient for playing carrom.
2. Has Limited Demands On Space:
Let’s face it, outdoor games such as cricket or football need oodles of space, such as open grounds, to play on.
For playing in a carrom board full size, all that is needed is a small part of the home and anything between 2-4 willing participants, which won’t be too hard to find. Individuals can even play a carrom game online on one of the many carrom game apps available if they are unable to find someone to face off against.
3. Avoids Exposure To The Elements:
Carrom can be played indoors and helps the players avoid exposure to Mother Nature’s mood swings, be it hot or cold weather. Both make us want to shut the door and head back indoors.
There’s the wonderful indoor game of carrom that will rescue you from the boredom of being cooped up indoors. Put your carrom skills to the test as you clear the board and rack up those points.
4. Minimal Equipment:
To play outdoors, you need a list of items to enjoy the game, no matter how minimal. To complicate things further, every sport has varied requirements.
Playing carrom requires only a carrom board, the set of coins it comes with, and a steady table to place it on. The only special treatment the board asks for is a good quality powder to enable easy movement of the coins.
Fascinating Facts About Carrom:
- Carrom has a day devoted to it, which falls on August 23rd every year.
- The carrom coins are officially known as carrom men.
- The International Carrom Federation was formed in October 1988, when delegates from India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia, Germany, and Switzerland met in Madras, India (now called Chennai), for the first organized World Carrom Congress.
- The standard set of carrom’s rules was adopted at this meeting. The ICF has headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, making a carrom a truly international game.
- There are eighteen carrom men apart from the queen, nine white and nine black.
Carrom Board Tips:
- The white and black coins are placed alternatively in the board’s center within the circle.
- The red coin is the queen and is placed in the middle, surrounded by other coins.
- The queen can be claimed only if another coin follows it into any of the pockets, else the queen returns to the board.
- The disk to pocket the coins is known as the striker.
- If the striker ends up in one of the pockets, it’s a foul, and one of the coins you pocketed has to return to the board.
- When taking the shot, the striker must be touching both the baselines or the red spot at either edge.
- Employ a gentle touch when playing carrom. This is a valuable tip, particularly for those new to the game.
Carrom Variants:
Maybe the carrom game board designs are the same, but there are multiple carrom variants played worldwide. Some of these are:
1. Total Point:
Total point is free for all carrom modes and popular in India and Pakistan. In it, the player can pocket coins of any color. The black carrom men are worth five points; white is ten points, and the Queen is the most valuable at fifty points.
2. Point Carrom:
In this game variant, the players may pocket carrom men of any color. The black and white carrom men each carry one point, and the queen is worth three points. The winner must get 21 points.
3. Family Point Carrom:
Family Point Carrom is commonly played in South Asia. Here too, participants can snag carrom men of any color. In this type, black is worth five points, white is ten points and the queen twenty-five points.
4. Professional Carrom:
When playing as per the rules of professional carrom, each player has to pick a color and stick to that. The player can score a maximum of twelve points in a round. Each round in the carrom is called a board, and the player has to score twelve points to win the board and twenty-five points by the time the 8th board ends to take the game. If a player loses the board, he does not benefit from pocketing the queen.
Final Thoughts:
Thus carrom is an ideal indoor game playable by people of all ages, come rain or shine. With some practice, the player will get the hang of the game and get addicted to it. When playing at home, feel free to play around with the rules to keep things interesting. The multiple ways of playing carrom are ideal for shaking things up should monotony set in.
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