Talk:Carrom

Clean up

I have been trying to clean up the section on variants as it presented several problems: 1) the use of "(coin)" after "carrom men" is unnecessary, 2) the colors should be referred to the same way as they are in the article text (black and white), the fact that the actual colors may vary is irrelevant here, 3) spelling in this article should be consistent (the Commonwealth style "colour" rather than American style "color", 4) WP:YOU. I eventually gave up after several edits as the rest of the section seemed just as bad. If anyone would like to continue, please do. I MAY come back to this after my brain quits hurting from the poor writing.

Section merge

Much of Carrom#North American carrom needs to be sourced and merged into Pichenotte#Canadian–American carrom (or vice versa), leaving only a concise WP:SUMMARY behind.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  22:34, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

Southeast Asian version?

How different is it from the Indian version? Is it the same throughout SEA? Where did the Indonesian word "karambol" come from? 36.79.209.45 (talk) 06:59, 16 December 2024 (UTC)

Regional Variants

Regional Variants

South African South Asian Community Rules

In South Africa, carrom is commonly played with a set of informal community rules that differ from international standards. In this version, the game begins with the queen placed at the centre of the board, surrounded by the other carrom men in the standard formation. Players do not choose their colour at the start. Instead, the first player must pot the queen before claiming a colour. The queen remains in play throughout the game and must be potted again at the end, after all of a player’s carrom men have been cleared, in order to win. If the queen is potted prematurely during play, five beads are returned to the board as a penalty. A striker foul results in one bead being returned to the board.

Another distinguishing feature of this version is a restriction on direct shots: a player may not strike their own beads that are positioned behind their baseline in a forward direction. Such beads must be played using a rebound or backshot.

Colour Follow Variant

A notable variant found in South African carrom circles is known as colour follow. In this version, the first player to successfully pot the queen followed by a number of their own beads establishes a sequence — for example, queen + 3 beads. This sequence becomes the required opening pattern for all opponents. Before an opponent can begin clearing their own beads, they must replicate the same pattern by first potting the queen and then potting the same number of their own carrom men. If the opponent fails to do so (e.g., misses a shot, commits a foul, or does not complete the sequence), they must start over by potting the queen again and attempting to match the pattern from the beginning.

This variation introduces a tactical layer to the game, as the first successful player can effectively set a barrier for others, making it more difficult for opponents to enter active play. As with the general South African community rules, there is no point-based scoring system; the objective is to be the first player or team to clear all one’s carrom men and then pot the queen to close the game. 102.32.222.171 (talk) 19:24, 4 August 2025 (UTC)