How do you play this curling game?
The stone sits in the hack at the top of a long ice sheet. Press it, drag upward and let go: the farther you pull, the harder it slides, and it travels in the opposite direction of your pull. After the throw, tap the screen fast to sweep, and once the stone stops the other side throws.
Red and yellow alternate, eight stones each per end, and the end is scored when all sixteen have stopped. Choose 4, 6 or 8 ends on the start screen; if the score is tied after the last end, extra ends are played until someone wins. While you pull, a dotted line previews the path, the power meter at the bottom left marks the guard, draw and takeout zones, and the small house at the top right shows the stones in play and where yours is expected to stop.
How is the score counted?
At the end of an end, only the team with the stone closest to the button scores, and it scores one point for every stone it has closer than the opponent's closest stone. A stone must touch the house (the big blue circle) to count.
| Situation | Result |
|---|---|
| Red closest, red second, yellow third | Red scores 2 |
| Yellow closest, red second | Yellow scores 1 |
| No stone in the house | Blank end (0 : 0) |
| The team that scored | Throws first next end (the other side gets the hammer) |
| Blank end | Same throwing order, the hammer stays |
Throwing the last stone of an end is called having the hammer, shown as a small hammer on the scoreboard. Against the computer you hold the hammer in the first end; in two player mode yellow does.
What kinds of shots are there?
By weight and purpose there are four shots: the draw, the guard, the takeout and the freeze. On the power meter green is guard weight, blue is draw weight and red is takeout weight.
| Shot | Weight | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Draw | Stops inside the house | Settle near the button to score |
| Guard | Stops in front of the house | Hide a stone behind it so it cannot be hit |
| Takeout | Hard enough to run through the house | Knock an opponent stone out. Your stone may roll out too |
| Freeze | A touch lighter than a draw | Stop right in front of a stone already in play so it is hard to remove |
What does sweeping change?
While the stone slides, tapping the screen or Space fast sends two brooms over the ice ahead of it, and less friction makes it travel farther and curl less, so it runs straighter. Stop tapping and the effect fades quickly, and nothing can be swept past the tee line.
Sweeping hard from start to finish adds almost a quarter to the distance. The classic approach is to throw a little light and sweep only when the stone looks short. The Normal and Hard computers sweep their own stones too when they are going to come up short of the target.
Which way does the stone curl?
The stone bends more and more toward the handle turn you picked as it slows down. Curls left bends it toward the left of the screen, curls right toward the right.
It runs almost straight while fast and curls most near the house, so to slip behind a guard into an open spot, aim outside the guard and let the curl bring the stone in. The dotted preview includes the curl, so line it up so the end of the line lands where you want the stone.
When is a stone removed?
- Hog line: a delivered stone that stops without fully crossing the red hog line near the house is taken off, unless it struck another stone.
- Back line: a stone that fully crosses the back line behind the house is out of play. Hit a takeout too hard and your own stone follows.
- Sideboards: a stone that touches the boards at either side is removed.
How does the computer think?
The computer runs candidate draws, guards, takeouts and freezes through the real physics in advance, picks the shot with the best resulting position, and then adds an error that depends on the level.
| Level | Shot selection | Error and sweeping |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | Draws near the button only | Large weight error, no sweeping |
| Normal | Draws plus a takeout on the closest opponent stone | Medium error, sweeps sometimes |
| Hard | Adds guards and freezes, judges the situation, last stone looks only at the score | Small error, sweeps when short |
Tips for winning at curling
- Score in the ends where you have the hammer. The last stone can remove the opponent or settle on the button. Without the hammer, giving up a single point to take it back is often fine.
- Guard first, then draw. A stone tucked behind a guard is very hard to take out.
- Throw a little light and sweep it in. There is no way to slow a stone that is too heavy.
- One opponent stone close? Take it out. If your stone stays in the house after the hit, the score flips too.
- Save the freeze for the last end. A stone frozen to the front of an opponent stone is nearly impossible to clear even with the hammer.
Controls
- Touch or mouse: press the stone and drag upward for weight, twist left or right for line, and release to throw. The two buttons at the bottom pick the curl direction, and after the throw tap anywhere on the screen fast to sweep.
- Keyboard: left and right arrows for line, up and down for weight, Z and X for curl, Enter to throw, and tap Space fast while the stone runs to sweep.
- Two players: red 1P and yellow 2P take turns with the same controls, and the side that threw does the sweeping.
The free guard zone rule of real curling (early guards are protected) is not included. The sheet length and stone speed are scaled so a throw takes about six seconds, and your record is stored only in this browser.