White Slam & Black Slam

Watch and learn how slams are made. There's a very small element of luck but mostly it's pure skills. Made possible over years of practice and competition. Here are some of my friends who've made slams. Typically White Slams are more supreme than Black ones unless when a player gets an opportunity to break and missed potting any, then it is. Otherwise it's always been white as more carrommen are on the board and it poses more challenges to do a slam clearance. Enjoy the videoclips.

White Slam by Karnal Abdin (UK)

White Slam by Yogesh Pardeshi (India)

Black Slam by Chamil Cooray (Sri Lanka)

White Slam by Nishanta Fernando (Sri Lanka)

White Slam by Parimala (India)

White Slam by Kabir (Pakistan)

 

White Slam by Robin (Bangladesh)

White Slam by Shafee (Maldives)

Inside Pocket vs Outside Pocket

Well many carrom players out there are aware of the existence of 2 types of carrom boards. Firstly, it's the OutPocket (OP) type where I first started playing carrom back in the early 80s. I've won many competitions back in school, workplace & church. Then in the late 90s as I was searching for international carrom, I came across the international community playing Inside Pocket (IP) carrom. Honestly, I felt it was silly since I've always been playing OP. But as I started playing IP and understanding the rules, it wasn't that bad at all. In fact there came a time when I totally gave up playing OP.

Now the question is, why did I gave up playing OP completely:

1. Disco powder used in OP is totally incontrollable for the striker. In fact once you place your striker on the board to strike, it starts moving.
2. Rules of the game is not fixed. Mostly when a competition is attended, players are briefed on the rules and it's mostly "house rules".
3. Stands are too high for a player to sit comfortable and play the game.
4. With the presence of disco on the board, a player's skills are not visible as the movement of the striker is determined by disco.
5. In fact when I requested to purchase some OP carrom boards from India, the manufacturer mentioned it's the board used by children/kids. Can you imagine some of them here are still playing kid's carrom. So basically they need to grow up and graduate into playing IP.

Why did I choose to seriously play only IP:

1. This is mode of carrom played worldwide. Accepted by the international carrom playing community. So it's best you play what everyone plays as it's recognized and sanctioned by the International Carrom Federation (ICF).
2. We have a law book by which every player abides by.
3. Given some time, everyone gets familiar with the rules.
4. A player has the opportunity to display his/her skills. For example, a player can break and finish a particular board/frame.
5. During international events in Asia, boric is used while potato flour is used across Europe and in Malaysia as well.
6. Usage of potato flour on the board allows better control of the striker.
7. By adopting international carrom, it has allowed me to represent my country in many international events. This has given me the opportunity to play amongst the world's best.

One should trying playing IP before making judgements that it's silly, etc. Recently I had a friend who purchased a carrom board from me. He admitted that he's an avid OP player and over the years have won competitions. But after trying his hands at playing IP, he's now my "disciple" and helping me to spread the news on playing the right carrom.

Once you start playing IP carrom, I can bet you'd give up playing OP for sure just like I did. Unfortunately there's a huge carrom playing community still playing "karom kampung" or kid's carrom which is the OP.

Shown below is 2 types of carrom boards:


Inside Pocket (ICF Approved)

Outside Pocket (Not Approved)

My wish is for all the OP playing community to move to playing IP. Then the standards of carrom can be elevated to a higher level. Get in touch with me if you want to know how.

How International Carrom Is Played

Here's some basics as to how it's played:

1. Arrangement of carrommen in the centre remains unchanged.

2. Break to start

• Singles - The player who wins the toss gets to break first and will play for White.  And for Singles, break is done backwards instead of front. This is to allow carrommen to be brought closer to our side. As it makes it easier to use thumbing and pocket the carrommen into the pockets located on the player's side.
• Doubles - Break is done in front motion. You're not alone and in this case you have to think of your partner as well. Turn of play is always anti-clockwise. So when a due is ready for placement, it will be done by the person sitting on your right. For further details refer to "How International Carrom Is Played".

3. Game

• A game consists of 8 boards/frames or 25points - whichever comes first.
• In competitions, a full game will consists of the best of 3 games which is quite lenghty. So normally for example, this is only practised from Q-Final onwards. Then again, this is left to the organizers.

4. Points

• For example, at the end of the 1st game, Player A won and Player B's 3 carrommen is left on the board. So that means Player A gets 3pts. If Player A had also covered the Queen, then an additional 3pts is awarded. Totaling 6pts. Even if Player B had taken the Queen and lose the game, he doesn't get the points for the Queen. You need to win a frame to be awarded points for the Queen. In the same manner, if Player A did not cover the Queen but won the frame, he only gets points for the remaining carrommen.
• These points are then accumulated after each frame. The player reaching 25pts or at the end of the 8th board/frame will be declared the winner.

Carrom Boards & Accessories for Sale!

Hello Malaysian Carrom Lovers! The much awaited carrom boards are finally here. And it's all the way from India. Which is the capital of carrom board manufacturing. The almost 2 months wait is finally over and its totally worth it. These boards are from the first ever carrom board manufacturer in India. SURCO is a trusted brand since 1952. They've been around for almost 60 years. The rest are all copy cats and "wanna-be's". This is truly the real deal.

"PURCHASE A BOARD FROM ONLY THE BEST BRAND IN THE CARROM WORLD"

Advantages of owning a SURCO carrom board:
1. First carrom board manufacturer approved by ICF.

2. Having almost 60years of experience manufacturing world-class boards.

3. Dedicated and focused to only manufacturing carrom boards and its related equipments - nothing else.

Here are the SURCO model's that Super Slam Carrom House is offering:



Tournament Strikers - 15gms

Champion Strikers - 15gms

Basic International Carrom Rules

RULES IN BRIEF

1.       In singles, the players shall sit opposite to each other.

2.       In doubles, the partners shall sit opposite to each other occupying all four sides.

3.       No part of the body, except the hand of the player shall go beyond the imaginary lines of the arrows.

4.       The Striker shall be struck and not pushed.

5.       The Stroke shall be made with the finger with or without the support of other fingers.

6.       Any hand may be used in play.

7.       While taking the stroke, the hand may touch the playing surface.

8.       a.  The elbow of the playing hand shall not come within the playing surface nor shall extend beyond the imaginary lines of the arrow.

b.  The hand may however cross the arrow.

9.       Before the break, the c/m are so arranged in a flat position that the queen shall occupy the centre circle and the rest of the c/m are placed around the queen in the 1^st row keeping the black and white c/m alternately, in the 2^nd row, three white c/m will form the shape “Y” with the white c/m in the first row. The remaining space is filled up by placing black and white c/m alternatively; all c/m so arranged should be in compact round, touching each other, within the outer circle.

10.    Break is taken by a player who has chosen to strike first.

11.    The player who is to break shall have the white c/m during that board leaving the black c/m to his opponent. The Queen shall be the common c/m.

12.    Break is considered to have been made if the Striker touches any of the c/m even slightly.

13.    a.  Break is not considered to have been made if no c/m is touched by the Striker in its usual run or jumping out. In that case, a maximum of two or more chances shall be allowed.

 b.  If a player in his attempt to break, in improper stroke or pockets his Striker without touching any of the c/m, he shall lose his turn. However, due Penalty shall not be applicable.

14.    As long as a player pockets his own c/m and / or Queen in accordance with the laws, his turn shall continue, otherwise it will be transferred to the opponent.

15.    a.   In the 1^st game, the player who chooses to break the 1^st board shall have the white c/m. The turn to break shall pass alternately during the game.

b.  In Doubles, however the turn passes on to the player sitting to the right hand side of the player who had his turn.

16.    The player who completes pocketing all his c/m wins the board. Queen – 3 pts up to and including 21. 1 point after 21. C/m – 1 pt each.

17.    a.  The number of c/m of the opponent on the c/b shall be the points gained by that player in the board.

b.  The player is entitled to be credited with the value of the Queen only if he wins the board.

c.  The player who loses the board is not credited with the value of the Queen, even if he pocketed and covered the Queen.

18.    The player loses the advantage of getting the credit of an additional 3 points for covering the Queen, once he has reached the score of 22.

19.    A game shall be of 25 points of 8 boards. The player who reaches 25 points first or leads at the conclusion of the 8^th board shall be the winner of the game.

20.    All matches in the tournament shall be decided by the best of 3 games only.

21.    a.  Any act of violation of the laws committed by the player during or after the 1^st stroke of his turn shall be deemed as foul. A foul shall entail 1 c/m of the offending player being brought out for placing and the turn to play shall be lost.

b. While pocketing the c/m and / or Queen if a foul is committed, the number of c/m and / or Queen so pocketed with an additional c/m shall be brought out for placing and the turn of the player shall be lost.

22.    a.  If in a proper / improper stroke a player pockets his Striker alone, his turn shall be lost and one of his c/m shall be taken out as penalty by his opponent for placing. Such penalty c/m shall be called “Due”.

b.  If this happens before any of his c/m is pocketed, the penalty due shall remain outstanding and shall be taken out as soon as it’s available.

23.    If a player pockets the Striker with his own c/m, the number of c/m so pocketed, with a due c/m shall be taken out for placing and the player shall continue his turn.

24.    If a player pockets the Striker with the c/m of the opponent, the c/m shall be deemed to have been pocketed.

25.    A player has the right to pocket the Queen and to cover it provided a c/m of his own has already been pocketed.

26.    If the Queen is pocketed before any c/m of the player is pocketed, the Queen shall be taken out for placing and the player shall lose his turn.

27.    If the Queen is pocketed by a stroke and is not covered, the Queen shall be taken out for placing.

28.    If the Queen and c/m of a player are pocketed together in one stroke, the Queen shall be considered covered.

29.    If a player pockets all his c/m leaving the Queen on the c/b, he shall lose the board by 3pts. If the opponent’s score is 22 pts or more, he shall lose by 1 pt.

30.    While covering the Queen, if a player pockets the last c/m of his opponent, he shall lose the board by the number of his c/m lying on the c/b together with the points for the Queen. If the score of the opponent is 22pts or more, he shall lose by the number of c/m only.

31.    a.  When taking a stroke, the striker must touch both base lines.

b.  If the stroke is made from the base circle, the striker must cover the base circle fully but shall not touch the arrow.

Surco Product Brochure & Technical Specifications

Carrom and I

I was exposed to carrom at a very young age just as a favourite past-time game. I remember getting my 1st board in the early 90s. It was SURCO and the year printed on it was 1975. It's the BEST board game one could ever play. Well that's my interpretation of having fun playing carrom be it alone or with some buddies who have similar interests. Although I've been playing carrom for a very long time but I'll always remember my 1st competition back in 1984 when I won the runners-up trophy with my doubles pal - Edmund Fernandez back in school. I still have that very small "trophy" back home in the showcase. From then on, I fell in love with the game and played it at my workplace, church, open competitions, etc.

As I was dying to learn more, I learnt about the existing of an association in Malaysia. Known as Carrom Association of Malaysia or Persatuan Karom Malaysia (KAROMAS). I joined them in 1999. This is where I knew the existence of a different format "international" format played throughout the world and sanctioned by the International Carrom Federation (ICF). The format which is played here is called just "local format". Mind you that the boards are different in the sense where the pockets are placed. International boards has its pockets in the inside which makes the board exactly square. Whereas the local boards has its pockets slightly on the outside.

When I first saw how the international format was played, I must admit that I laughed within myself as to what this is really. It took me awhile to adjust to this format of play. I had no choice as this is the only format which will take me international. So I adopted it and from then on, I never looked back. And I completely dropped the idea of ever playing local format in a local board. I had to painstakingly change my strokes which took me approximately 6 months but it was definitely worth it.

CARROM COMPETITIONS

I played my 1st international competition back in 2004 when I represented Malaysia in the 4th World Championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka. My 2nd was in 2006 when again I represented our nation in the 2nd World Cup held in New Delhi, India. I also had the priviledge to be part of ESPN StarSports' first ever inaugural World Series of Carrom right after the conclusion of the World Cup. I was chosen as one of the priviledged few because ONLY 16 players were chosen to play (Only 1 from Malaysia). This was a prestigious event as the prize money was huge i.e. USD7,500 (total prize money). Of course this is beyond comparison to other games but for carrom this was big. The event was held in a studio with live audience. This was truly an exciting exposure for me. And then this event was shown on ESPN StarSports a few months later.

In 2008, I took part in the 5th ICF Cup held again in Colombo, Sri Lanka. And finally in 2011, I completed the last and only event I tried taking part in 2 attempts but failed due to "internal" politics. This is the 4th Asian Championships held in Male, Maldives. Can you imagine that happening in carrom? Carrom is of no exeptions to "internal" politics as well.

Of the many events I represented the country, only 1 did I manage to secure a sponsorship. The rest I had to fork it out of my own pocket. This is the reality behind carrom and the passion you have for it. So in the event no sponsorship is secured, I need to prepare myself for the inevitable. All for the love of carrom.

UMPIRING

I've done umpiring in many local events such as MAKSWIP and MAKSAK tournaments. Also umpired in the 1st and 2nd Malaysian Open in 1999 and 2000 respectively. But the best ever experience I had as an umpire was when I was asked to overlook the Men Single's final between 2 Indian players. This was a marathon match as it took almost 3hrs to complete. The match was tied at 1-1 and went to the final decider set. Mind you that the finals are played to a FULL GAME mode. Which means that there are no more No. of Boards or No. of Frames. Whoever reaches 25pts wins. It was truly a tense situation not just for the players but for me as an umpire.

ORGANIZING

I was entrusted to organize the 6th ICF Cup held in November 2011. Participated by 5 countries which included Malaysia. Response was not too good but the show had to go on. Together with some reliable people, it was organized quite successfully. This was my first in organizing a major competition. Next time if there's one, it should be a "piece of cake".

QUALIFICATIONS

Firstly, I qualified as a National Umpire in 1999 and then went on to qualify as an International Umpire in 2000.

MISSION

My mission now is simple:

- to expose more people into playing carrom

- teach them to play the right format of play

- expose interested parties to know the rules of the game

- organize more tournaments and competitions