Every four years during the Winter Olympics, you look up the rules of curling, only to promptly forget them. Here they are again (in their absolute basic form), followed by some trivia that you can also forget.
The Basics
Curling involves sliding stones (or rocks) along a sheet of pebbled ice toward a circular target (called the house), the center of which is called the button. Two teams of four members each take turns engaging in this endeavor. Because each team member slides two stones, one round (or end) involves each team sliding a total of eight stones in alternating fashion with the other team. The team with the stone closest to the button when all turns have been taken scores at least one point (and perhaps more, as the scoring team receives a point for all its stones closer to the button than the opposition stone nearest the button). An entire game consists of ten such ends, and the team with the most points after these ten ends is the winner.
The format described above is used in men’s and women’s Olympic curling. (For example, in the men’s competition, a team of four men representing one country competes against a team of four men from another country.) The format for mixed doubles—two-person teams with one man and one woman—is a bit different. In this latter competition, each team has six stones—one of which is actually preplaced—per end and games consist of eight ends.
Some Strategy
Each stone has a handle, allowing the player to apply rotation that can result in the stone following a curved path, or curl. Team members can then modify the path of a moving stone by sweeping the ice in front of it. Such sweeping, done using a brush (or broom), actually melts the ice, allowing the stone to travel farther (and typically with less curl).
As you might imagine, significant thought is involved in determining where to try to place a given stone at a given time, earning curling the nickname chess on ice. In a ten-end game, each team has a total of 38 minutes of thinking time (reduced to 22 minutes in an eight-end game). Because having the last stone in an end—called the hammer—is an advantage, if a team scores in a given end, it plays first in the next end, meaning the opposing team gets the hammer.
Here’s a YouTube video that provides more detail on the rules of curling, a bit of strategy, and, of course, some visuals.
Trivia
Just as I did for the NFL playoffs, I opted to add a few tidbits that’ll help you impress…yourself.
1
As alluded to in the video, curling is thought to have originated in 16th-century Scotland. Scottish emigrants are credited with bringing the sport to modern-day strongholds such as Canada.
2
Curling was part of the first Winter Olympics in 1924, though it subsequently made only sporadic appearances as a demonstration sport until it was officially added in 1998 (with mixed doubles jumping on board in 2018). Canada has the most medals in Olympic curling.
3
Curling stones are made of granite that must have specific properties. Ailsa Craig, an uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland, is a major source of the raw material.
4
Curling stones weigh between 38 – 44 lbs. (including the handle).
5
The line at which a player releases a stone (the hog line) is 93 feet from the line that passes through the button (the tee line).
6
At one point, curling brooms were literally just straw brooms. Today, synthetic brushes made with a nylon fabric predominate.
7
The two curling shoes are not the same—one sole is meant to grip the ice and the other to slide (with the latter having a slip-on gripper for times when sliding is not needed).
8
While not exactly in the rules of curling, it seems to be generally accepted that the recreational form of the game and beer go pretty well together.
To learn more, check back again in four years.
