Carom

A third family of games beside pool and snooker. The table has no pockets and each player has a cue ball of their own: you score by sending yours on to both of the other balls.

The five games

Choose one to see it on the table, read its rules in full and see what its tutorial teaches.

The table as a game of Carom starts, with the scoreboard

CaromThe plain game: send your cue ball on to both of the other balls, any way you can.3 tutorial tasks · the rules in full

The table as a game of One-cushion starts, with the scoreboard

One-cushionCarom with a cushion added: your cue ball has to touch one before it reaches the second ball.2 tutorial tasks · the rules in full

The table as a game of Three-cushion starts, with the scoreboard

Three-cushionThree cushions before the second ball. A point is hard to come by, so a game is short.2 tutorial tasks · the rules in full

The table as a game of Balkline starts, with the scoreboard

BalklineLines cut the table into nine spaces, and two balls may not be kept in one of them for long.2 tutorial tasks · the rules in full

The table as a game of Four-ball starts, with the scoreboard

Four-ballThe game of Korea's billiard halls: two reds to hit, and your opponent's cue ball to keep clear of.2 tutorial tasks · the rules in full

All five taught

A tutorial each. Spoken and subtitled, a task at a time, starting with what scores and ending with the point that wins.
A page each in the rule book. The opening shot, what scores, what is a foul and what is not.
A computer player that works out its caroms. It tries each ball it could hit first, thick and thin, at several speeds and spins, and keeps the shot that still scores when played a little wrong.
A target you choose. Each game is played to the number of points you set.
A table to practise on, where nothing is scored and every carom is counted in cushions.
Places in the career. Carom and three-cushion each have a venue on the tour that follows the world title.

A balkline table from above: four chalk lines cut the cloth into nine spaces, and the corner space holding the yellow and the red is outlined in gold — Balkline: the yellow and the red share a space, and the scoreboard says what that allows.

Try it, free

The demo is 8-ball in the Classic Room, with its whole spoken tutorial, a practice table and a computer player, for Windows, Linux and macOS. The full game will be sold only on Steam, at $12.99.

Get the free demo Screenshots