Come on in and 'carrom' with us

As it's pretty chilly outside, it's a great time to gather with family and friends, warm and toasty inside with a couple of board games.

Ever the eclectic explorers, John and Emily have replaced traditional Monopoly with an exotic carrom board in our cosy lounge. It creates a lot of conversation with our guests; Shelina Permaloo exclaimed with delight when she spied it! It was particularly popular at Christmas with our corporate team building and Christmas parties - as shown in the photo below.

The key questions are "what is this and how do you play it?!"

So here are the answers:

What is it?

It's a little bit like an Indian version of billiards/snooker/pool using a table with pockets and flat wooden discs, like pucks, that you flick with your fingers.

How do you play it?

Very simply put, you put the main pieces (also called "men" or "coins") in the middle, and use the large striker to flick the red disc into them. The aim is to get the black and beige counters into the pockets around the outside (similar to pool). The winner is the person/team with the most colours potted.

It's a bit more complicated than that, for further details click here or here for a pictorial version.

...Or as Emily and John would say - just have a go and create your own rules! Below is a picture of one possible set up using the vintage set we have.