The name doesn't quite tell it all but it's close enough. Carrooka is the love child of Snooker and Carrom: it's played like Snooker, or in the version shown here on Board's Eye View, like Pool, but instead of cues hitting balls across a large table, you play by flicking discs on a circular Carrom-like board.
We surely don't need to go through the rules here of either Snooker or Pool - suffice to say that the rules for this game conform to what you would expect from the conventional games. The board has six pockets and Jack Furnival's ingenious design means that it's essentially a giant 'lazy susan' that you rotate to take your shot. It's a dexterity game, of course, but it conforms to similar physics to its ball and table equivalents, except of course that rebounding discs against the curved wall of the Carrooka board feels more challenging than the precise angles achievable when rebounding against the cushion of a Snooker table.
The boards are all hand made in the Carrooka.com workshop and it's clear they are a labour of love: this is craftsmanship carpentry! There was love too when members of the Board's Eye View team were first introduced to the game. Flicking dexterity games are always a popular filler with our team but none previously have proved as addictive as Carrooka. In part, that's down to the familiarity of Pool/Snooker but it also owes much to the clever design of the rotating board. Aside from the fact that the Carrooka board is much more compact than even a conventional Pool table, being able to rotate the board to take your shot means you can play without having to preserve space all around. It's meant we've been able to set up the board and play whenever and wherever there's demand - which is pretty much every games night!
Because it's well made, there's almost no maintenance needed - except an occasional dusting of traditional Carrom powder to keep your wooden pucks running smoothly. If your experience is anything like ours, a Carrooka board will get a lot of play and deliver a lot of fun for all the family. And there's probably just enough time to order one now in time for this Christmas' family get togethers.
To us, the big surprise is that the Carrooka hasn't had a greater impact, particularly on the pubs and clubs market. Carrooka boards like ours are designed to simply be placed on top of any flat tabletop but Carrooka.com also manufacture to order 'Tournament' boards, a fraction larger than the standard board, and these can be supplied mounted on standalone tables. These are ideal for a club or pub environment: they offer a comparable player experience to a conventional Snooker or Pool table but they take up considerably less physical space. They will almost certainly work out less expensive and better value than a baize cloth table, not least because they are also potentially more robust. That's especially the case when you factor in players walking around a conventional table and leaning across with long cues, and in an environment where alcohol is being drunk. If your pub or club hasn't fitted itself out with Carrooka tables, it's probably only because they have yet to discover them. Show them this review and refer them to the Carrooka.com website.