Curling Explained

The Curling Rink

The curling rink is about 44 metres long and about 5 metres wide. 

The Game

Teams are made up of four players. A normal game lasts about two hours

Starting in the Hack, each player in the team slides a 20 kg granite stone down a sheet of ice. The aim is to have the stone stop nearer the centre of a target (the "House") than your opponent’s stone.

Stones are intentionally rotated slightly when delivered and will curve a foot or two ("curl") in the direction it is rotated.

Two sweepers, as directed by the skip (the person in charge of the team), use brushes to sweep the ice in front of the curling stone so that the ice is smooth, enabling the stone to travel further and straighter.   

Scoring

An “end” is completed when all 16 stones (8 per team) have been delivered.  Only one team can score in an end, with teams scoring one point for each stone closer to the centre of the House than the opponent's closest stone.

Curling Manuals

Here are some manuals about Curling from our friends at the Canadian Curling Association (www.curling.ca)