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Curling

Curling is a winter sport where the object of the game is to slide stones across an icy surface so that they stop within a designated area. This tends to be in the form of four concentric circles. Curling has often been described as bowls on ice. It also shares numerous similarities with shuffleboard. If readers are interested in participating, then being aware of the the rules is very important.

Teams and Scoring

Each team must have four players. A coin toss usually decides who goes first. They take it in turns to move two rocks across the ice. Their score will be determined by which part of the target area the rock stops in. A total of 16 rocks are moved per game. Once this has been completed, the scores are counted.

During professional international matches, each slide has a time limit of 73 minutes. Two timeouts last up to a minute. However, this can change in the event of a tie.

Sweeping and Brushing

Only two members of the team can sweep the rock up to the tee line. Once it has crossed this point, one player is allowed to brush. At the same time, a member of the opposing team can sweep.

If a team gets into a position where they feel they cannot win, they may forfeit the game. Fair play and good sportsmanship is an essential part of curling. For this reason, a culture of self-refereeing has formed around it.