American Carrom

American Carrom is a derivative of Carrom, attributed to American Sunday school teacher Henry Haskell. American Carrom differs from Carrom in the board construction, particularly the larger size of the pockets and the smaller size of the pieces. American Carrom is often played with a cue, and the board is patterned with checkers, chess or other board motifs, allowing a variety of other games to be played. Many American Carrom boards also double as Crokinole boards.

In American Carrom the object is to flick to strike the Carrom men into the pockets in a similar fashion to pool or billiards. Sometimes a cue is used rather than flicking. Due to the larger pocket size and the smaller pieces, American Carrom lacks some of the strategy and skill required of the 'proper' version of the game.

From the description of Carrom:

Carrom is most easily described as "finger pool". On a 29" x 29" wooden board, players flick a large acrylic disc (the striker) at smaller wooden discs (the carrom-men). The goal is to sink your 9 carrom-men (black or white), as well as the red Queen, in the four corner pockets. The first player or team to accomplish this collects points for the round (commonly called a "board"). A standard game of Carrom continues until one player has 25 points or 8 boards have been completed.

Carrom bears similarities to Korona, Pool and Crokinole, but is a fascinating game in its own right with varied strategies and techniques. No one knows exactly where the game originated. It could have come from Burma, Egypt, or Ethiopia, but most believe it originated in India.