Curling is a northern sport that bears a strong similarity to shuffleboard, but rather than a drinking game played in a bar or on a boat, ice curling is an Olympic sport filled with strategy and skill. Many northern countries traditionally are strong in curling, but its popularity has slowly moved south into other countries; China, for example, is now a world power in curling despite being historically weak in winter sports. Curling sometimes is televised, but the sport can seem foreign to those unfamiliar with the rules.
Playing Surface
A curling game takes place on a sheet of ice measuring 16 feet 5 inches wide by 150 feet long. At both ends are 12-foot circles that serve as the target and the scoring area during a game. At a curling competition, multiple sheets will be aligned with one another to accommodate multiple continuous games. Two teams compete on the same sheet of ice and take turns delivering shots.
Equipment
Two pieces of equipment are unique to curling: the curling stone and the brooms. A curling stone is a granite stone with a handle bolted to its top. The stone can vary in size and shape but must weight between 38 and 44 lbs. It must be no larger than 26 inches and cannot stand more than 4.5 inches tall. The broom is a friction-creating stick used to melt ice and create watery tracks ahead of the curling stone. When the stone is sent down the sheet of ice toward the target, these watery tracks are created by one or two sweepers, and the tracks can be used to speed up, slow down or curl the stone in a certain direction -- hence the sport's name.
Basic Gameplay
Teams take turns releasing stones toward the scoring area. One team member aims the stone and releases it at or behind the near hog line. The stone must at least reach the far hog line just before the scoring area. Teams can have differing strategies depending on the situation, but a stone release will have one or more of three goals: to land in the scoring area and serve as a potential point, to strike an opponent's stone and knock it out of the scoring area, or to serve as a blocking stone protecting another stone in the scoring area. In total, eight curling stones are released by each team during an "end," which is similar to an inning in baseball. Ten ends comprise a curling match.
Scoring
At the conclusion of each end, points are awarded to the team that has placed a curling stone closest to the center of the scoring area, known as the house. That team receives points for every other stone it has placed in the house closer than the opponent's closest rock. However, rocks must be in the house to count as points. Any rock outside the house will not score a point, even if it is closer than the opponent's closest rock.
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