Curling is a sport that is played on ice, with two members on each team using brooms to sweep the ice with stones to create sheets of ice called the ‘broom boxes’. There are ten different curling positions, known as ‘classes’, that you can perform while playing the sport, though there is one exception in that all players must have at least one stone ‘in play’ before the end of the tenth position.
Once you move to a tenth position, you sweep with a broom until you find yourself on an ‘edge’, which is usually placed directly across from the curling stone. You may do this in any order and you must throw the stone closest to the end of the stone box. If you don’t make the end of the rock box on the last throw of the match, then the next throw will start from the very end of the tenth position. Once the other team has been given the end of the rock box, the two members of the curling team will curl to within a stone’s throw from the stone that is ‘in play’. The stone is then dropped into the ‘house’ and the match ends when either of the two stones that the curling team has in play is crossed behind the other team’s stone.
You may do this over and over and over again for several hours and even days until the end of the game. As you do this, the scoring works like this: For each half-dozen sweeps that you do, you add ten points to your team’s total, and the curling team also scores ten points for every rock that is thrown. As a result, if you hurl a stone into the house of an enemy team, your team will score ten points while the opponents would receive zero.
Once you get past the first few strokes of play, the goal for each team is to keep their stone in play, and if you do, you gain points. Once you have the last stone in play, the scoring goes like this: If your opponent’s stone is tied or less than 10 points, your team keeps the rock. If you have 15 or more points, the opposing team loses the game.
While this is just a simplified explanation of the game of Curling, the basic rules that apply in most curling matches are this: You have four corners in each game (five if you add ‘play-offs’). You have to have at least one stone ‘in play’ before the end of each set of ten strokes, and if you don’t, then the next throw is treated as the tenth stroke of the entire game. You can’t add more than 10 points during a set of ten strokes.
You can play a lot of matches using these simple rules until you score enough points to win. If you score zero points in your set, you will lose a match.
Play-offs
There are two additional play-off systems, each of which is used to resolve draws after six complete ends (10 ends for men and eight ends for women). The play-offs are based on these basic rules: If you have 15 or more points at the end of 10 shots, you keep the game; if you have 10 points, the opponent loses a match.
Play-offs don’t just determine the winner of a match; they also determine which player will become the regular skip of the next curling match in the round-robin format. As a result, the skip of the curling team that won the previous round becomes the’regular’ skip of that set of the following match, and whomever wins the next set of play-offs becomes the regular skip of the match, even if the regular skip was defeated during the previous set. The players of the remaining curling team may be told after each set of play-offs that they will alternate as skip for the next match, but they cannot say that the other team is their opponent. This is probably the simplest way to settle the score between two teams.
Try Curling Today
You may try out curling for free by trying out the sport at the Community Curling Centre or at one of the 18 curling clubs in the province of Saskatchewan. Check the local curling clubs’ websites for contact information and instructions.
Oh, and don’t forget the curling brooms…
We made a reference to curling brooms above. If you need a new curling broom, check out these great curling brooms:
The type that you are used to seeing in curling is not the only type that is available, and you may be able to find something closer to a maple leaf handle. If you are looking for a new curling broom, make sure that you do your homework and check out the products of a few reputable curling retailers to find the perfect broom for you.
Practice Curling Today
If you want to try out curling for the first time, but don’t want to take the whole family (or a friend who hasn’t curled in a while), try a short two-hour clinic at a curling club. It’s a great way to test the waters to see if you like curling, without getting too carried away. Take along a friend and try out a full game and then you can decide whether you want to commit to a season of play.