Korona

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Korona (Finl.) and Couronne (occasionally also Koronn, Swe.) is versions (with very minor differences) of Carrom played in Finland and Sweden and to some extent in the other Nordic countries. The game is considered to have evolved from American Carrom early in the 20th century. As early as the 1930's regular competitons were held at famous departement store Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) in Stockholm, but since the war (WWII) no Couronne contests took place until they were revived in early 21st century in the Swedish provinces of Scania and Jämtland. The former being student activities (often at Blekinge nation - a student organisation with very old roots); the latter being an un-official world championship. Like in Carrom, there is a wooden square shaped board usually less than 1 meters wide. The idea of the game is to hit small round pieces with a bigger piece into corner pockets. In this Nordic version you use cue sticks to hit the big stone instead of using your finger which makes Korona / Couronne even more similar to billiards than the Carrom. The pockets are typically larger than in Carrom but there's some space between the pockets and the edge of the board. Therefore it's possible for a piece to go behind the pocket which can sometimes cause some extra trouble. In Finnish Korona, during the setup, the pieces of each player are placed in a tight row against the wall on the opposing side of the board instead of a pattern in the center. There's no bonus pieces in this game. Because all the pieces are separated according to their color, it's possible for a skillful player to put all the pieces in a pocket with only one strike. Each player in a three or four player game may play with their own colors instead of forming teams with opposing players. The Swedish version Couronne is similar in that it typically has space behind the pockets and uses cue sticks, but the pieces (usually 15 of each colour) are initially placed in the middle. Minikorona is a space-saving version of this game. H-ring spel is a Dutch version that has similarities to this game.