Q&A for How to Play Carrom for Beginners

This is a foul. One of your pieces will be returned to the board as a penalty.

You will only receive one additional turn.

If the striker goes into a pocket, the already pocketed piece is placed back on the board anywhere in the central circle by the opponent.

No, because the queen needs cover. If by mistake you end up pocketing the carrom men first, then all the points for the queen are with the other team.

Yes. Giving a direct hit to a piece on the arrow is a foul.

No. You cannot play with both hands. The competing team is also not allowed to make use of both hands.

The queen can't be pocketed unless you pocket the last carromman of your color right after it. If you pocket your last carromman before you pocket the queen, you place the queen back in the middle and end your turn.

Place your middle finger on the back of your thumb; let go while applying pressure against your thumb to flick. Do this to the striker.

You have to keep playing until someone hits 29 points. Carrom is played in multiple rounds, so there's no need to worry if someone does not hit 29 points after only a couple of rounds. In this scenario, continue to play until you or your opponent hits 29 points.

Yes.

No, you can't hit a coin on the arrow next to your baseline, it's foul.

You have to pay a fine by keeping your coin along with red coin and the follow up coin (if its yours).

Yes, but if a follower is not pocketed, you have to put the queen back in the middle.

Your striker can never be pocketed. In this scenario, the queen would be returned to the board. In penalty for pocketing the striker, you would have one piece in your color returned to the board.

Strikers are often made of metal, making this unnecessary. You can buy many different kinds of strikers online.

No, you shouldn't play the coin that's on the arrow. That would be a foul.

Then you must return one of your coins to the center of the board (but the queen would belong to you).

If you pocket the queen and then, by mistake, pocketed your opponent's last coin, then you would not get any points. Your opponent would get a point for each coin of yours on the board along with the queen's point.

If you pocket the queen, your own coin, and your opponent's coin, then you must determine whose coin went inside the pocket first. If your coin went in first, then red belongs to you. Otherwise, if it was your opponent's coin, then the red coin belongs to them.

Yes, you can play with four opponents, but that wouldn't be an exact carrom game; that would be called "Popper." In Popper, the point values are different: each black coin carries 5 points and each white coin carries 10 points.

If you're playing a regular game, then each black and white piece carry 1 point. If you're playing popper, then each black coin carries 5 points and each white coin carries 10 points.

If your opponent's piece is pocketed in that situation, then that round ends and neither of you gets any points from the red piece.

No, you can't disturb the opposing team's coin in the game. If you directly hit the opponent's coin and that coin doesn't touch yours, then it's a foul.

In that case, you should use rebound, which means you should try to hit the coin behind the base line.

If your piece is not pocketed then it is not a foul. If your piece gets pocketed with only one of your coins on the board and a red piece then it is not a foul, but that round ends and neither player one nor player two will get the queen's points.

In some tournaments, this would be considered a foul, along with intentionally hitting an opponent's piece to make it difficult for him/her to pocket it. This is more ethical than a fixed rule though, so it's up to you to decide whether to play fairly to the opponent or just play by the standard rules, in which case this would be allowed.

Once you finish the board, all of your carrom men are pocketed. The queen may be pocketed by you or your opponent. The number of carrom men your opponent has remaining will be your number of points. You will receive an additional five points if you pocket the queen. Also, once you reach 24 points, additional points for the queen cannot be considered.

Index finger grip is common. The ring finger acts as an additional support for people who play with index finger. However, if you are playing very well with your middle finger, you may continue to do so. At beginners level, some straight shots might be missed - this can be improved with practice. But at advanced level, cut shots can be played very well when played with middle finger.

The game is usually played on a square board made of plywood, with a pocket in each corner. The standard board is 29 inches (74 cm) on a side. The edges are bounded by bumpers of wood, and the underside of each pocket is covered by a net which is 10 sq cm or larger.

If the lines on your Carrom board are circular, this may indicate that the board was designed for a different variant. One possible variant is the Bull's Eye Carrom game, which is played on a circular board with a bull's eye target in the center. In this game, players take turns shooting their carrom men toward the center target, trying to score points by landing as close to the bull's eye as possible. Another possible variant is the Novuss game, which is played on a circular board with small wooden pucks. The object of the game is to knock your opponent's pucks off the board.