Carrom as we know it today has been played for nearly two hundred years, although games of a very similar nature have been played for thousands of years under a variety of names. Carrom is spelt in many ways, including carom, carum, karom and kairam; One may find this confusing, but it simply reinforces an underlying trend and nature of this game, where tradition and history reveal variety and differences.

The history of thought and the history of carrom preceded the written word and we therefore have no record of it. The game lives through play, not necessarily dependent upon words.