Burmese Billiards

Have you ever imagined a game of billiards, snooker, 8 ball or 9 ball without a cue stick? Well, the Burmese imagined such a game. This game is played more or less all over the country and is fiercely popular in the Shan State of Myanmar. I saw this game in live action in one of the markets on the Inle Lake. The game is a mix of traditional billiards and carom board.


Basically, the table looks like a large carom board and instead of the balls, there are flat coins that have numbers and colors. Instead of the cue ball, they have a striker coin which is white. They even keep the scoring pattern of billiards in this game. I don’t know what this game is called in Myanmar, but it sure did look interesting.