Back end: The vice-skip and skip on a curling team. Back line: The line across the ice at the back of the house. Stones that go over this line are removed from play. Biter: Stone that just touches the outer edge of the circles. Blank End: An end in which…

The exact origins of curling are unknown, but the sport is believed to date back as far as the 1500s. The first rules of curling were drawn up in Scotland, and were formally adopted as the “Rules in Curling” by the Grand Caledonian Curling Club (later renamed by Queen Victoria…

Like most sports, advanced statistics are increasingly used in curling to measure and analyze performance. In curling, players are graded on shots on a scale of zero to four. 4 points = shot executed correctly 1–3 points = partially successful shot 0 points = completely missed shot This scoring is…

When watching curling on screen, fans are treated to many angles — a top-down view of the house to show stone placement, and a view down the sheet while the players deliver their shots and sweep their stones, etc. There is a lot to see. …

Following are a sample of some important curling rules. The complete World Curling Federation rules are available at www.worldcurling.org. The sweeping motion must be from side to side across the stone. The brush must cover the 5 inch running surface at all times and finish to the side so no…

Stones Also known as rocks, curling stones are made of rare, dense granite that is quarried on Scotland’s Ailsa Craig. Each stone weighs 19.1 kilograms (42 pounds), including the handle, and is polished. Each side of a curling stone has a concave area commonly referred to as the cup. The edge…

If two or more stones are too close to measure by eye, vice skips are responsible for measuring. There are three types of measuring devices: The most often used device, simply called THE MEASURE, is used to determine which stone(s) are in the house and/or in scoring position. The SIX…

Time clocks are used to control the speed of the games, and prevent a team from taking enormous amounts of time to execute its shots. Each team has 73 minutes (146 minutes total) to complete a ten end game. Each team may call one 60-second timeout during a game and…

Each curling team consists of four players and an alternate. Each player has a unique role. The First The first, sometimes called the lead, is the player to deliver the first two stones of each of the game’s ten ends. Since the first two stones often determine the course of the end…