Canadians are passionate about curling. It’s a game that anyone can play and is exciting to watch as well. This post explains some of the basic strategies of the game to get you prepped for your first time on the ice.

Curling Canada is a good source of information for the beginner. There’s a great About Curling section that has loads of information, short video clips and links to help you get started with this fantastic winter sport that beckons players from all walks of life.

 

Learn more about curling with SWSCD

Curling lingo: a primer to get you sweeping in no time

Curl, sweep and skip your way to a Bonspiel near you

People in glass houses can throw these stones – and other tips for high performance curlers

 

The quick and dirty

The game is played by two teams of four players – the Lead, the Second, the Third (vice) and the Skip. Each team throws eight rocks each towards the house (the bull’s eye targets) to complete an end – two per player, with teams alternating turns. The object of the game is to get your rocks closest to the centre of the house – or the button. Points are tallied at the completion of an end with only one team scoring points. The game is over when ten ends have been played and the team with the most points wins.

 

The curling sheet

The playing surface is a sheet of ice – called the sheet – which is typically 150 feet long by 15 feet wide. The ice is spattered with pebbles of ice to add a little excitement to the game since they will affect the way the rocks curl.

As you read along, refer to the drawing below of the rink dimensions – from the Glenmore Curling Club website – to see the various parts of the sheet as they are described to you.

 

 

The house is the bull’s eye or dartboard-like target that players are throwing their rocks towards. The house consists of four centric circles – red, white, blue and the button is white. As mentioned above, the object is to get your rocks closer to the button than your opponent. A rock must at least be touching the outer ring to count in the scoring. 

 

 

Players deliver or throw the rock from the hack – much like the starting blocks on a track. I say throwing but no one actually throws the rocks – after all they are about 44 lbs. of granite. The rocks are gently released and slide along the ice so there is no need to be a Hercules to play.

 

 

There are a few lines to pay attention to on the sheet as well – the centre line, the hog line, the backline and the tee line. The centre line runs through the centre of the ice from one end to the other. The other three lines are perpendicular to the centre line and parallel to each other. The hog line runs 10 metres out from the hack in front of the house, the backline – you guessed it – runs along the back of the house, and tee line runs through the centre of the button. When a player delivers their rock, it must stop between the hog line and the back line to remain in play.

The free guard zone is the area between the hog line and the tee line but doesn’t include the circles in the house. This zone exists because it allows teams to protect the first four stones – or the stones thrown by each team’s Lead. Rocks that are in the free guard zone cannot be removed by the opposing teams until the fifth rock is played. If one is removed from play, it has to be returned in its original position.

 

Basic strategy

The game of curling is popular for many reasons – it’s a social game with few equipment needs that is suitable for many to play regardless of age or physical ability and it is a game rife with strategy. It’s just as much a mental workout as a physical workout.

To put their strategy to work, players use one of three shots depending on the point in the game. These three shots are guards, draws and takeouts:

• The guard is used to block the house making it difficult for the opponent to put a stone close to the button. Guards will protect the shot rock – the stones closest to the button.

• The draw is a shot that is used to go around the guard and land in the house. Draws often will have quite a curl to end up going around a guard.

• Takeout shots are the hard shots that knock other rocks out of play. If a shot takes out more than one stone – it’s called a double for removing two and a triple for removing three.

Check out this shot by Jennifer Jones, which won her the 2005 Canadian Championship at the Scott Tournament of Hearts. A great example of a takeout and a take it all.

When to use which shot depends on a number of things – one of them being; does the team have the final shot – or the hammer. It’s a benefit to have the hammer – the last opportunity to take out a rock and sneak in closest to the button. A coin toss determines the first end’s hammer and then the team that loses the previous end gets the hammer for the next.

The Skip is at the house end calling the shots. The thrower or deliverer of the stone is at the hack and the other two players are along the sides with their brushes – the sweepers. The Skip determines the shot and tells the player throwing what kind of turn or spin they should use as well – either clockwise or counterclockwise. The Skip will also tell the thrower how much weight to use – how hard to throw the rock. It may be takeout weight to remove an opponent’s rock from play or draw weight to have a stone land in a particular location in the house.

 

 

Next up is the sweeping – another important piece of strategy. The brooms play a big role in helping the stones to travel farther and straighter. If a stone has too much weight then there is little sweeping. If a stone has light weight, sweeping can help move it to where the Skip wants it be. The sweeping motion heats up the ice and reduces the friction in front of the rock allowing it to travel further. So if your Skip yells “HUUUUUURRRRRRRYYY” you best get sweeping!

 

 

After the rock has been delivered, the two remaining players slide along the side to communicate with the Skip how much weight the rock is travelling with. The Skip then tells the brushers how much to sweep so it will land where she wants it to land. Once the rock is past the far tee line, only one player per team may sweep the rock – and only the Skip or Vice-skip may sweep for the non-delivering team.

There is more to discover in terms of curling strategies but this will get you started. Curling Canada has an excellent guide available for download called 4 Rock Free Guard Zone Strategy Guide. Check it out and get planning your strategies.

 

Scoring – counting up the rocks

The Thirds or Vice-skips count up the points after the final rock is delivered. Again, the team with the rocks closer to the button than the opposing team wins the points. A point is scored for every rock that is closer to the button. If there is just one stone closer, it’s one point; two it’s two points and so on.

 

 

After scoring, the next end is ready to be played. The hammer for the next end is given to the team that did not score. If there are no points scored – called a blank end – the hammer stays with the team that just had it. There are times when a team will blank end on purpose – called blanking an end – to retain the hammer for the next end. See what I mean about lots of strategy?

 

SeeWhatSheCanDo

Find Curling Canada in our Athlete Advisor, your online business directory for more information on curling in your community. Find, rate and review curling clubs, local community offerings and businesses that will help you do your thing.

Need a place to coordinate and connect with your own curling team? Find a bonspiel or put together a team on our SWSCD Hub.

Look for advice, stories, and news on our Curling activity page.

Do you have a good resource on the basics of curling or a story about how curling became a winter passion for you? Tell us about your experience directly on our Discover blog or by using #seewhatshecando in your social media posts.