Curling

Curling is a winter target sport where the goal is to slide stones over a sheet of ice to a target area. The game is an ice version of shuffleboard. Curling is one of the sports of the Winter Olympics.

Curling is a team sport, played between teams of two or four players. The target, called a house, is a circular area marked on the ice, segmented into four concentric circles. Each player on the team will alternately slide the heavy, polished granite stones, also called boulders, across the curling ice cap toward the house.

United States curling team in action at the Winter Olympics
Each team has eight stones. Each end is completed when the teams have thrown all their stones. Points are awarded after each end to the team with the stone closest to the center of the bullseye. One point is awarded for each stone that is closer to the center of the target than the nearest stone of the opponent, although only stones that are in the house are considered in scoring. A curling game can have around 8 or 10 ends. The team with the most total points at the end of all ends wins.

Curling involves a great deal of strategy and teamwork. Players must not only choose the best path to propel the stone, but can also rotate the stone so that it coils along its path, and sweeping in front of the stone can decrease friction and make it travel further. a straighter path.