- How a curling game works, in short
- The sheet, the house and the granite stones
- Teams, the skip and the delivery order
- Delivering a stone, step by step
- The Free Guard Zone rule most beginners miss
- Sweeping: who can sweep and where
- Scoring an end, with a worked example
- The hammer, ties and extra ends
- My verdict for your first time on the ice
- Frequently asked questions
Curling is played by two teams of four, each sliding eight granite stones down a sheet of ice towards a target called the house. When every stone in an end has been played, a team scores one point for each of its stones in or touching the house that's closer to the tee than any stone of the other team.
I've built this page from World Curling's Rules of Curling and Rules of Competition, dated 1 September 2026, and it's current as of November 2026. It covers the standard four-player game only, written for someone heading to a first session or watching on TV, not for an umpire.
How a curling game works, in short
Each team uses eight stones with the same handle colour, and each stone is marked so it can be identified. Players take turns delivering stones from one end of the sheet towards the house at the other end, and team mates can sweep in front of a moving stone. When both teams have thrown all eight stones and the score has been decided, the end is complete.
The game goes to whoever has more points after the scheduled ends. How many ends that is depends on the competition: the rule book refers to both 10-end and 8-end competitions, so check what your event or club plays.
The sheet, the house and the granite stones
The house is the area inside four concentric circles around the tee, which is the exact centre. Three lines matter most once you're on the ice: the tee line, the hog line and the back line. These are the figures the rule book sets.
| What | The rule book says |
|---|---|
| Stone | Granite and circular, between 17.24 kg (38 lbs.) and 19.96 kg (44 lbs.) including handle and bolt |
| Stone size | Circumference no greater than 914 mm (36 in.) |
| Sheet length | At least 45.720 metres (150 feet) from the inside edges of the back boards, or 44.501 m (146 ft.) where an existing facility can't allow more |
| Sheet width | At most 4.750 m (15 ft. 7 inches) |
| House | Outer circle has a radius of 1.829 m (6 ft.) |
| Hog line | 102 mm (4 in.) wide, inside edge 6.401 m (21 ft.) from the centre of the tee line |
Teams, the skip and the delivery order
A team is four players. It can also include a fifth player as an alternate, plus team officials. Each player delivers two stones in every end, in consecutive order, alternating with an opponent. So your lead throws two, with the other team's lead throwing in between, and then the next pair of players takes over.
The skip directs play. When it's the skip's turn to deliver, the vice-skip steps in. Before the game, each team declares its delivery order and who its skip and vice-skip are, and it keeps that order all game. You can't shuffle people round mid-game because someone's having a good night.
Who goes first? Unless it was decided in advance or by the Last Stone Draw, a coin toss settles which team delivers the first stone of the first end. That team also chooses the handle colour.
Delivering a stone, step by step
- Right-handed players deliver from the hack on the left of the centre line. Left-handed players use the hack on the right.
- Deliver the stone using its handle.
- Release it clearly before it reaches the hog line at the delivery end. If you don't, that's a hog line violation and the stone is removed from play, however good the shot looked.
- The stone must come to rest completely beyond the inside edge of the hog line at the playing end. If it stops short, it's removed, unless it struck another stone on the way, in which case it stays in play.
- A stone that completely crosses the outside edge of the back line at the playing end, or touches a divider or a side line, is removed straight away.
- While it's moving, your team mates may sweep it.
One more that surprises people: touching a stone's granite once it's past the tee line at the delivery end counts as touching a moving stone, and the stone is removed.
The Free Guard Zone rule most beginners miss
This is the rule I'd explain to anyone before their first end. The Free Guard Zone is the area between the tee line and the hog line at the playing end, not counting the house.
Before the sixth stone of an end is delivered, you can't knock an opposition stone out of play if it's sitting in that zone. If you do, your delivered stone is removed and any stones it moved go back where they were. So for the first five stones of every end, guards in front of the house are protected, and a clever-looking take-out can cost you your own stone.
The rule book also has a separate no-tick rule covering a stone in that zone that's touching the centre line. It's worth asking about when you join a club.
Sweeping: who can sweep and where
Sweeping looks like frantic cleaning, but there are clear limits on it.
- Sweeping can be in any direction, but it must finish to either side of the stone.
- The brush head mustn't be raised in front of a moving stone, and you mustn't leave debris in front of it.
- A stationary stone has to be set in motion before anyone can sweep it.
- The delivering team can sweep its own stone anywhere in front of the tee line at the playing end.
- Nobody may sweep an opponent's stone except behind the tee line at the playing end, and not until that stone has reached the tee line.
- Behind the tee line, only one player from each team may sweep at a time.
Scoring an end, with a worked example
When all the stones have been played, the skips or vice-skips agree the score of the end. A team scores one point for each of its own stones in or touching the house that's closer to the tee than any stone of the opposition. Measurements are taken from the tee to the nearest part of the stone.
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Say red has three stones in the house and yellow has one. If two of red's stones are closer to the tee than yellow's stone, red scores 2. Red's third stone, sitting behind yellow's, doesn't count. Only one team can score in an end.
| What's in the house at the end | Result |
|---|---|
| Your two nearest stones beat every opposition stone | You score 2, they score nothing |
| Their stone is nearest the tee | They score; your stones in the house count for nothing that end |
| Two stones can't be separated, even with a measuring device, and that decides who scores | They count as equal and the end is blanked: no score for either team |
The hammer, ties and extra ends
The hammer is the stone that will be the last stone delivered in an end. After a team scores, that team delivers the first stone in the next end, so the other team has the last stone. In other words, scoring hands the hammer to your opponents.
If the score is tied at the end of the scheduled ends, play continues with extra ends, and the first team to score wins. There are minimums too: in competitions with 10 ends scheduled, at least 8 ends must be completed in play-off games and at least 6 in all other games. For 8-end competitions, at least 6 ends must be completed. A team that's arithmetically eliminated may finish the current end, but no new end may be started.
The rule book also sets out the Spirit of Curling. In short, curlers play to win but never to humble opponents, they don't knowingly break a rule, and if they find they've broken one by accident, they're the first to say so.
My verdict for your first time on the ice
I'd learn three things before you slide a single stone: let go before the hog line, leave guards in the Free Guard Zone alone until the sixth stone, and only stones closer to the tee than every opposition stone score. That covers most of what happens in a beginner session.
I'd skip the end minimums, the measuring detail and the no-tick rule until you're playing in a club or league, because nobody will expect you to know them on a fun night out. If you enjoy the idea of a target game where position beats power, my bocce rules guide and shuffleboard rules explainer are good next reads.
Frequently asked questions
How many players are on a curling team?
Four. A team may also include a fifth player as an alternate, and each player delivers two stones per end.
How many stones does each team throw per end?
Eight. Each of the four players delivers two stones in each end.
How do you score in curling?
At the end of an end, a team scores one point for each of its own stones in or touching the house that's closer to the tee than any stone of the opposition.
What happens if a curling game is tied?
Play continues with extra ends, and the first team to score wins the game.
What is the hammer in curling?
The stone that will be the last stone delivered in that end. After a team scores, that team delivers first in the next end, so the hammer passes to the other team.
