Carrom · How to play
How to play carrom, from your first stroke.
Carrom is played on a square wooden board with a pocket in each corner. You flick the striker from your baseline to knock coins into the pockets. This guide has the controls, the rules of the five games in Carrom, and every way to play.
Android and iOS apps are coming soon to Google Play and the App Store. The web game works today.
How to shoot
- Slide the striker along your baseline to place it: drag it, or use the slider under the board.
- Press the striker and pull back, like a slingshot. The dotted line, the contact ghost and the arrow show where the stroke goes.
- Release to shoot. The harder you pull, the harder the stroke.
On a computer: ← and → place the striker, A and D aim, hold Space for power and release to shoot; Esc cancels the aim. On a phone or with a mouse, tap with a second finger or right-click to cancel the aim.
The five games
Every game uses the same board and the same stroke; they differ in what scores and when you win.
Classic
Nine coins each, and the red queen
- Player 1 pots the white coins, player 2 the black ones. Potting one of yours keeps your turn.
- The red queen: pot it, then cover it by potting one of your coins on your very next stroke, otherwise it goes back to the centre. A coin potted in the same stroke as the queen does not cover it (except your 9th coin).
- Your last coin cannot go down before the queen is covered: it comes back to the board.
- Foul, striker off the board or pocketed: your turn ends, that stroke’s coins come back and one of your potted coins is returned. A stroke that touches nothing just passes the turn.
- You win when all 9 of your coins are down and the queen is covered.
29 Game
Several boards, first to 29 points
- Each board is played as Classic: pot your 9 coins, and pot and cover the red queen.
- The red queen cannot be your first piece: potted before any of your coins, it does not count. Your turn goes on, and the queen goes back to the centre when your turn ends.
- If you pot your last coin while the queen is still on the board, that coin is held and you play on for the queen. Pot it and the coin comes back to the centre to cover it with; miss, and the coin comes back and the turn passes.
- The side that clears its coins wins the board and scores a point for each of the opponents’ coins still on the board.
- If the winners covered the queen, it adds 5 points, but not once they have more than 23 points.
- Then the pieces are set up again and the next player breaks the new board, playing white. The sides swap colours and keep their points.
- The first side to 29 points wins the game.
Tal Gach
Break the 19-piece tower, first to 170
- All 19 pieces start in one tower at the centre: white and black alternating, the red queen on top. Tal Gach is Bangla for “palm tree”.
- Break the tower with your first stroke. A full, straight hit scatters it; a softer one topples it whole.
- Any piece you pot scores for you: white 20 points, black 10, and the queen 50 the moment it drops, with no cover needed.
- Pot anything to keep your turn. A stroke that pots nothing passes it on.
- Foul, striker off the board or touching nothing: your turn ends and that stroke’s pieces go back, with no points lost.
- The first player to 170 points wins. If the board is cleared first, the highest score wins. 1 v 1, 3 players each for themselves, or 2 v 2.
Disc Pool
No queen, forgiving fouls
- There is no queen. Every disc counts for its owner, whoever pots it.
- Pot one of yours to keep your turn; a pocketed striker or one off the board only ends your turn, and the discs still count.
- The first side with all 9 discs down wins.
Freestyle
Every coin scores, first to 160
- Any coin scores for whoever pots it: white 20, black 10. The queen is worth 50 once covered.
- A foul voids that stroke’s pots. A striker pocketed or off the board also returns your latest coin.
- The first to 160 points wins.
Ways to play
Quick Match
An opponent near your rating, 1 v 1 or 2 v 2. If nobody is found after a short wait, a bot joins. Each game type has its own Elo rating.
Challenge a friend
Send a challenge: the game makes a room and a link. Your friend taps it and joins your table, in the app if it is installed or in the web game. Private rooms also work with a code, and there is a lobby of open rooms.
Bots and pass and play
Bots in four difficulties, from Easy to Expert, each with its own style. Pass and play for 2, 3 or 4 people on one phone or tablet.
Daily Challenge
A new trick-shot puzzle every day, the same for everyone on the same date, to sharpen your aim. On Fridays it is a tower puzzle.
Watch and talk
In the web game, anyone with a room code or link can watch a full live match that is under way (1 v 1 or 2 v 2); the players see “👁 N watching”. Voice chat in online matches starts off: it turns on when a player taps the mic, or when their opponent turns voice on (you can switch that off in Settings). Each player has a daily limit of voice matches, 3 by default.
Learning with an AI assistant? Use the prompts and the plain-text version.
Questions
Facts checked with the team on 13 October 2026.
What is the striker?
The larger disc you flick. Place it on your baseline, aim, and pull back to shoot.
Why must the queen be covered?
Potting the queen is only half of it: you must pot one of your own coins on your very next stroke, or the queen goes back to the centre.
Which game is easiest for beginners?
Disc Pool: no queen and forgiving fouls. Freestyle and Tal Gach are fun too, as every piece scores.
How many points win Tal Gach?
170. There are 320 points on the board (9 whites at 20, 9 blacks at 10, the queen at 50), so 170 is always more than half.
Do I need to download anything?
No. Play at carrom.22softwares.com in any modern browser. Android and iOS apps are coming soon to the stores.
Is Carrom free?
Yes. It is free, with ads (a short one between games, a small banner on some menu screens, and optional watch-an-ad rewards) and no purchases with real money. The web game shows no ads yet.
Want a game or a realtime app built this way?
We design, build and run games and realtime platforms end to end: apps, servers, stores and operations.