Carom

20 chips, 10 black and 10 white. 1 red chip, a big white one and a squared board with four holes at each corner. The Indian pool. As in pool, you use the big white chip to move the other ones into the 4 holes. All 21 black, white and red chips start at a circle drawn in the middle. Each side of the board has a line from where you will throw, with your fingers, the big white chip.

There are variations on how to play the game. The way I spend hours and hours playing in Bundi consisted on getting as many chips in the holes, either white or black. Black chips were worth 10 points whereas white chips were worth 20, and the red one 50 points. Condition was that if you got the red one in one of the holes, you were obliged to put another chip in on your next shot. If you didn't get one in, the red chip would go back into the center of the board. Same would happen if any chip would be thrown out of the board. When the big white chip gets into a whole, we had to put back in the board a 10 point chip. You could get change if you only had 20 point chips.

At the end, if the red chip is one of two chips remaining in the board, and you get the other chip in first, you loose all your chips putting them back in the board.

Having finished the first round, you can play again, but only betting the lowest amount won by one of the players, i.e. the amount of the player with less points. And so on until one of the players has all the chips.

An easy game were skill is necessary, but that it's gained with practice. I played this game several times at Ringo's restaurant with locals and foreigners. Locals were harder to beat.

I remember all this Tibetans playing this game constantly at a shack back in Mc Leod Ganj. I wondered why, and now I understand. I wanted to play and play. In many cases, people bet money. I had already lost money playing poker, and I wasn't up to loosing more. But I have to buy this game!