Burmese Caroms

This ancient Burmese game displays most of the techniques and skills associated with billiard games played in the West. It differs significantly in the smaller size of the playing area, the use of discs instead of balls, and in the absence of a cue as a striker.

Rules

Figure 1

Table: Burmese Caroms is played on a miniature table, measuring 2 feet (61 cm) square. The playing surface is composed of a highly polished tropical hardwood, such as teak. To reduce friction to a minimum, the surface is lightly coated with French chalk (reapplied after each game). At each corner of the table there is a netted pocket. The width of each pocket should not exceed 1½ times the diameter of the striker disc. A circle 6 inches (15.25 cm) in diameter, with a center spot, is marked on the middle of the board. Two rectangles, each 21.33 inches (54.18 cm) by 18.67 inches (47.42 cm), are marked out on the board, so that their short edges are equidistant from the four sides of the table. This arrangement forms four narrow rectangles or boxes, from which each player makes his strokes.

Equipment: There are 19 object discs: nine black, nine white, and one red or queen disc. These disks measure 1 inch (2.54 cm) across and 3/16 inch (4.8 mm) in depth. They are made of polished hardwood, and are designed to fit into the centre circle. There is also one striker disc, made of bone or ivory, measuring 1 1/3 inch (3.38 cm) across and 3/16 inch (4.8 mm) in depth.

Other equipment: Bagatelle is played with small steel or plastic balls. When not in play, they are ranged behind a special partition running along the near end of the board. A stick about the size and weight of a drum stick is used to strike the balls.

Objective: Each player (or pair) attempts to pocket the discs of the colour allotted to him, by knocking them with the striker disc.

All players also attempt to pocket the queen disc, which carries bonus points.

Starting procedure: The queen disc is placed on the centre spot, with the other discs arranged around it, as shown in Figure 1.

Order of play is determined by lot. The player drawing black plays first, and his objective is to pocket the black discs; his opponent's objective is to pocket the white discs.

Play: Black places the striker disc anywhere within his box, and, by flicking it with his middle finger, attempts to knock one or more black discs into any pocket.

A player must flick the striker disc across the front line of his box at each stroke, although, if the striker crosses the front line, and then spins off a side of the table in such a way as to hit a disc behind the striker's original position, the stroke is valid. (The striker disc may rebound from a side before hitting a disc.)

A player may hit one of his opponent’s discs, using it to pocket one of his own discs. A player’s turn ends when he either
a) fails to flick the striker across the front line of his box;
b) fails to pocket one of his discs;
c) pockets one of his opponent’s discs; or
d) pockets the striker, whether or not he succeeds in pocketing one or more of his own discs. (See also the section on fouls and penalties.)

When the turn passes to a player, the striker disc must be placed in that player’s box. All shots must be played from the correct box.

Pocketing the queen disc may be done in either one of two ways (to be agreed on by the players before the start of the game).

1) The queen disc may be pocketed at any time, provided that the successful player pockets one of his own discs with his next stroke. Failure to do so results in the queen being returned to the centre, together with any other of the player’s discs pocketed with that stroke.

2) In the more difficult alternative, the queen disc may be pocketed only after a player has successfully pocketed all his own discs.

Fouls and penalties: In addition to losing his turn, a player may also incur penalties or penalty points.

a) If a player pockets one of his opponent’s discs, it remains in the pocket.
b) If a player pockets the striker disc as well as one or more of his own discs, his opponent replaces the disc or discs anywhere within the centre circle.
c) If a player pockets the striker disc only, his opponent takes any one of the player’s discs from a pocket, and places it anywhere within the centre circle. If the offending player has no discs pocketed, he has one point deducted from his score.

Scoring: No scoring is carried out until one player has pocketed all his own discs, thereby winning the game. The first player to do so scores the value of his opponent’s discs still on the board, plus the value of the queen, if it was pocketed by him. No points can be claimed for pocketing the queen disc, if it was pocketed by the loser. Each black and each white disc is worth one point, and the queen is worth five points. Any penalty points are deducted from the players’ scores. Scores are totalled until one player has 30 points — this may take several games. In match play the first player to score 30 points wins the set, and the winner of two out of three sets wins the match.

From 'The Official World Encyclopedia of Sports and Games'
© Diagram Visual Information Ltd 1979