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Curling sheet
The sheet is an area of ice, carefully prepared to be as flat and level as possible, 146 to 150 feet in length.
by 14.5 to 16.5 feet in width. Multiple games may be played simultaneously.
A target, the house consists of three concentric rings formed by painting or laying colored vinyl sheets
under the ice and are usually distinguished by colour.
These rings are defined by their diameters as the four-foot, eight-foot and 12-foot rings.
The rings are merely a visual aid for aiming and judging which stone is closer to the centre;
they do not affect scoring but a stone must at least touch the outer ring or it does not score.
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Each house is centered on the intersection of the center line, drawn lengthwise down the center of the sheet and one of the tee lines, drawn 16 feet (4.9 m) from, and parallel to, each backboard.
These lines divide the houses into quarters.
The centre of each house, at the intersection of the centre line and the tee line, is known as the button.
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Two hog lines, are drawn 37 feet (11 m) from, and parallel to, each backboard.
The hacks are fixed 12 feet behind each button; a hack gives the thrower something to push against when making the throw. On indoor rinks, there are usually two fixed hacks, rubber-lined holes, one on each side of the centre line, with the inside edge no more than 3 inches (76 mm) from the centre line and the front edge on the hack line. A single moveable hack may also be used.
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A curling sheet, with dimensions – CL: Centreline • HOL: Hogline • TL: Teeline • BL: Backline • HA: Hackline with Hacks • FGZ: Free Guard Zone
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The ice may be natural but is usually frozen by a refrigeration plant.
Most curling clubs have an ice maker whose main job is to care for the ice. It is common for each sheet of ice to have multiple sensors embedded in order to monitor surface temperature.
process of sliding a stone down the sheet.
The skip, or the captain of the team, will usually determine the various tactics to be used such as
taking-out, blocking or tapping another stone.
- The weight of the stone is its velocity, which depends on the leg drive of the delivery rather than the arm.
- The turn, handle, or curl is the rotation of the stone, which gives it a curved trajectory.
- The line is the direction of the throw ignoring the effect of the turn.
The winner is the team having the highest number of accumulated points at the completion of ten ends.
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Points are scored at the conclusion of each of these ends as follows:
- when each team has thrown its eight stones,
- the team with the stone closest to the button wins that end;
- the winning team is then awarded one point for each of its own
stones lying closer to the button than the opponent’s
- Only stones that are in the house are considered in the scoring.
- A stone is in the house if it lies within the 12-foot (3.7 m) zone
- or any portion of its edge lies over the edge of the ring.
Since the bottom of the stone is rounded,
a stone just barely in the house will not have any actual contact with the ring,
which will pass under the rounded edge of the stone, but it still counts.
This type of stone is known as a biter.
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