Some of my friends are avid carrom players. I use the word "avid" pretty losely here. They bought carrom boards from Pakistan (Karachi) and brought them here as one piece. They are quite pricey I think, and really good quality and very very heavy (two people to carry one carrom board). In fact, they even get the proper boric powder special ordered from Pakistan - as apparently the stuff that is available here is not up to the mark. There are special levellers that are used to make sure the board is properly aligned and straight to avoid any slopes.
Now the "avid" part. They don't play as often. May be, linke 5-6 times a year. But when a carrom night is arranged, its full tournament mahool, and the games go on for 5-6 hours. There are about 4 people who have their own carrom boards and they all bring them to one place and have concurrent games.
Personally I am not a big carrom player, and rely more on luck than skills to get through a game. Its a good fun game, though, to pass time.
got it from a local joint in chicago, its a pretty large heavy board and was one of the nicer ones and was imported from pakistan.
its more as a party novelty thign than anything and it gets used a few times a year.
I bought first of mine from a joint in chicago too , but it was not of good quality , then one of my students brought one from Pakistan it is a nice one . Till we were in Chicago we used to have carrom party every weekend at my home .Since the time we moved from chicago it is same with us as you we get to play once in a while.
All the ones at Devon, Chicago were pretty crappy. There are some factories in Sialkot, if you call them up, they might send one to you for a reasonable price.
spock, teh current lot of boards is really bad, I got mine 8 years ago when they were only special ordered and onlya few were kept. now u can pick one up for $30.
kher, either way, not a carom exeprt to even know what is a real good board, it serves its purpose..which mfor much if the time is sitting in the basement ruing teh day it boarded a plane from pakistan to US
