Introduction
Curling is a winter sport where two teams (two players in this case) compete on an ice sheet.
The winner is the player who has one stone closer to the center of the house.
Gameplay
A game, called an "end", consists of delivering 8 rocks by both parties.
The two players alternately deliver their rocks during an end.
The winner of an end will be the first to throw in the next end. If the end is tied, then the winner of the last end, which was not tied, starts the next end.
Delivery
Move the broom on the teeline to aim. You can position the broom in the 3D view, or in the 2D box in the top left corner as well.
Press and hold the left mouse button to gain power. The power indicator will help you to find the right power for your throw.
Sweeping
Sweep when necessary by wiggling the mouse.
A broom is used to sweep the surface of the ice. Sweeping is very important as it can be used to adjust the trajectory of the rock after delivery. Sweeping melts the ice, lessening friction, which has two important effects:
- sweeping will lessen the rock's deceleration, thus it will travel longer
- it will straighten its trajectory
Wiggle the mouse in order to sweep when you find it necessary.
Curl
You can change the direction of the spin by clicking on the SPIN button in the bottom right corner.
The Rink
The curling sheet, the rink, looks like shown on the image below.
The concentric rings on both ends of the rink are called the house.
The center of the house is marked by the intersection of the centerline and the teeline, and is called the button.
The hogline lies parallel to the teeline, in front of the house.
The so called "Free guard zone" is the area between the hogline and the teeline excluding the house.
Removed rocks
Rocks will be removed from the rink if
- they touch the sideline
- they travel beyond the backline
- they does not reach the far hogline
Guard rocks
Rocks in the free guard zone cannot be removed by an opponent's rock until the first four rocks (2 for each players) had been played.
If such guard rocks are removed in the first four throws, they are replaced to their original position, and the opponent's rock is removed from play.
Scoring
After all 16 stones are delivered in an end, the player with the rock closer to the button is the winner of the end. The winning player gets one point for each of their rocks that is closer to the button than the opponent's closest rock. Such rocks are marked during the game by brighter colours.
Only rocks within the house count.
After completing an end, players may choose to continue for another end, for a total of 10 ends, or they can set the number of ends to be played before the match as well.
The scores for each end are added together for both players, and the winner of the match is the player with more points from all ends.
There is an alternative scoring system available, called skins format, which can de selected in the "games & chat settings" dialog.