As any faithful BGQ reader probably knows, I’ve got a love affair with dexterity games. You make a game with flicking, stacking, tossing, or any other hand-eye coordination element, and I’ll give it a go. If it’s fun, I’ll probably be glued to it for most of the night.
So when the Carrom Company asked I we wanted to check out their Carrom board, the answer was obviously a resounding yes. However, their board is much more than just a board to play Carrom on. In fact, they say it plays 85 different games. While that has my skeptical hackles raised, I still want to give it a try.
Gameplay Overview:
The Carrom board comes with a dual-sided, wooden board, and about 44 various bits that range from rings, to pool cues, to tops, to bowling pin shaped pieces. While I’m in no way going to cover all 85 games today, you can see all the Carrom board has to offer here.
What I do want to do is focus on the two main games of the Carrom board. The main game for one side is Carrom. Originating sometime throughout history in India, Carrom tasks players with flicking discs into small scoring areas. In fact, Carrom reminds me a lot of Pool (billiards). You have a neutral flicking disc, and your goal is to hit your color discs into one of the corner pockets.
The round can end when you either sink all your discs (1 pt each) or someone sinks the black disk (earning 5 bonus points).
Flip the board over and you now have a Crokinole board. For those that haven’t played this classic game, your goal is to flick discs into the center of the board to try and score points. There is a hole in the center that’s worth 10 points, with various scoring areas radiating out from there for fewer points. Each player has 6 discs to alternate turns flicking and after all have been shot, scores are tallied.
Game Experience:
The Carrom board is a pretty amazing piece of workmanship. Handmade out of wood, it feels sturdy, and the various printings on it allow for a variety of games to be played, even non-dexterity games. The Carrom side has a checkers/chess grid, and also triangles for backgammon. While the Carrom board is not cheap, you can definitely get a lot of mileage out of the various games that can be played on it.
Now, I do want to preface that with their claim of 85+ games is a tad generous. While many of the games are unique, there are also a bunch that says “the same as XXX but with this slight rule change”. For example, Carrom has the main rules, and then 3 other variations. That being said, there is still a LOT of variety in the rulebook. Even if you knock out a solid 25% of the games for being just variations, that still leaves you with 60+ unique games to play. And most are very accessible, only requiring a few paragraphs of instructions.
This was my first time playing Carrom itself, and I really enjoyed it. I did some research on the game and the history of it before working on this review, and I should note that this isn’t your traditional Carrom board. The classic one has pockets slightly larger than your flicking disc, so it’s a LOT harder to play on those. This board has generously sized pockets, so while you are sacrificing a bit for the purists, I think it ends up being a lot more family-friendly. Which is a plus in my book.
But we gave a lot of different games to play, and there are quite a few unique ones in here, in addition to riffs on classic games. From Carrom, to crokinole, to 9 pin, to billiards, to checkers, to shuffleboard, there is pretty much something for anyone here. Now, you do need to like dexterity games, because the few non-dexterity games are basically checkers or backgammon, and it’s not really worth buying the board just to play those.
I’m a bit torn on if I prefer Carrom or Crokinole better. I think I slightly lean towards Crokinole because it plays a little faster and it doesn’t feel like a riff off Pool. That being said, I’ve spent a lot of time on both sides of the board and the flexibility and variety here it’s top notch.
Final Thoughts:
The Carrom multi-game board is pretty fantastic. There is no shortage of games to play with it, and the construction of it is fantastic. Just note that the wood board is quite large, a little over 2 feet square, so you’ll need someplace to store it. But all the small bits come in a drawstring bag, so I’ve not had any issues keeping it up against a wall when not getting our flick on.
This one is great both for families and gamers alike, and if you are a dexterity game fan, it’s a good addition to your collection.
Final Score: 4 Stars – An accessible and well-produced product that offers a great variety of dexterity games to play.
Hits:
• Large variety of games
• Great craftsmanship
• Accessible gameplay
• Can play classic and new games
Misses:
• Where do I store this?
• 85+ games is a tad generous
Source: Board Game Quest
