Player's Guide · 07

Settings & on-board aids

Everything below lives in Feel the Physics, adjustable live while a sandbox match runs.

The table's physics

  • Bounce (restitution) — how lively collisions are.
  • Friction — how quickly pieces slow down and settle.
  • Gravity / drag — the overall pull that brings the board to rest.
  • Coin & striker mass — the weight behind every flick and carom.

Understanding the Friction slider

"Friction" covers two related but different effects, and knowing them apart makes the slider easier to reason about.

Kinetic friction while moving

Acts on a coin or striker already sliding across the board, steadily bleeding off its speed. This is what the Friction slider mostly changes — turn it up and a hard flick pulls up short; turn it down and pieces glide almost forever.

Static friction at rest

Acts on a piece that's already stopped, holding it in place against small nudges so it doesn't creep on its own. It's why a coin parked at rest next to a pocket stays put until you actually strike it.

Static friction is the force that keeps a stationary object at rest on a surface by opposing the start of any sliding motion. Two things worth knowing about it:

  • Self-regulating — it automatically matches whatever small force is pushing on the piece, up to a limit, rather than acting with constant strength.
  • A maximum limit — called limiting friction — beyond which the piece breaks free and starts to slide. Overcoming it is usually harder than keeping something already moving, which is why a resting coin needs a firmer strike than a moving one needs to keep going.

fs,max = μs × N

  • fs,max — the largest static friction force the surface can supply before the piece starts to slide.
  • μs (mu) — the coefficient of static friction: how "grippy" the board surface is. Higher board Friction settings raise this.
  • N — the normal force pressing the piece into the board — for a carrom coin, essentially its weight.
Why it matters on the table: if Friction is set high, a light tap that would normally set a coin rolling instead does nothing — the strike force never exceeds fs,max, so the coin stays put. Once a shot is hard enough to break through that limit, kinetic friction takes over and gradually slows it down.

Sound & look

  • Music and Sound Effects volume, each with its own mute.
  • Board style — switch between the Standard (match-proportioned) and Classic boards; the change is felt immediately.

Practice aids

  • Show Complete Path — draws the recommended shot's full route as a guide line.
  • Show Complete Graph — draws every clear shot lane and coin-to-coin link on the board, not just the recommended one.