Two teams of four players are each equipped with
eight stones. The circular stones are polished granite and weigh about
42 lbs. each. The stones have a running surface on the bottom and a
handle on the top. Alternating with a player from the other team, each
team member takes up a position in a foothold (the
"hack")
at one end of the ice and propels two of the stones as close as
possible to the button at the opposite end of the
ice sheet. The team
captain, or "skip," directs the game strategy by
indicating to the delivering player where the stone should lie when it
stops moving. The other two players assist by sweeping with brooms in
front of the stone in order to clean the ice and warm it so that the
stone travels further.
The game is called curling because, when
releasing the stone, the player turns the handle about 1/4 turn
clockwise or counterclockwise (depending upon the desired direction of
the curl). This causes the stone to travel in a curved trajectory down
the ice, rather than in a straight line. The use
of this curling property to hide behind other
stones or to place a stone in a position
otherwise thought impossible is what makes the
game dynamic.
After all 16 stones have been
delivered (called an "end"), the team with one or
more stones sitting closer to the button than any of the
opposing team’s
stones wins the end, with each of those stones counting for one point. A typical
game is 8 or 10 ends long, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours
of play.
Intraclub competition usually consists of "round robin"
type of play among all of the teams in a league. Interclub competition
happens in the form of tournaments or "bonspiels"
that are held on weekends throughout the curling season (generally
from November through March or April in the United States).
a
curling stone
