I saw a commercial with it tonight and always wondered how it’s played as the Olympics is the only time I’ve seen it. One player pushes throws a stone and people are pushing brooms. Are there techniques or strategies for this sport? Do the people with the brooms have to back and forth down the line/lane or can they do something else?
The people with the brooms are guiding the stone – making it go faster/slower or curve by sweeping the ice appropriately. Scoring is based on getting your stone(s) closest to the center of the ring – there’s actually a lot of strategy involved, in addition to the skill to get your stone placed where you want it. It’s one of my favorite events to watch, possibly because it’s one of the few events where I can say “Hey, if I practiced a long time, I could do that!”
ETA: you asked what else the folks with the brooms can do - nothing. They’re not allowed to touch their own stone or the other team’s. Each member of the team rotates between throwing the stone and sweeping.
The thrower puts their foot in the hack and releases the stone, but you can’t go past the hogline. Don’t throw the stone through the house, though.
See? Curling is easy.
There is a LOT of strategy involved. It isn’t called “chess on ice” for nothing.
You score points by being closest to the centre dot, called the button. Only the team with the closest rock counts, so if you have say three of your rocks closer than the next closest opposing rock, you score three. If one of the opposition’s rocks then rests closer than two of yours, you only score one. See?
The team who scores in any given end throws first in the next end, therefore the team who doesn’t score throws last. Throwing last (having the hammer) is very advantageous, in that you have the final attempt to score points. Sometimes you may choose NOT to score points, because scoring only a single point and giving up “the hammer” might not be in your best interest.
Sweepers are warming the ice in front of the rock. This means the rock will slide further, but it will also slide straighter. Not sweeping means the rock will come up shorter, but it will curl more. The curl on the rock is determined by which way the person throwing the rock turns it: either turning the handle in, or turning the handle out. (In turn, and out turn).
The team captain (Skip) positions his broom in the circles (house) and you are to aim at his broom, judge how hard to throw the rock (weight), and make sure you make the appropriate “turn.”
It’s a fascinating game to watch and to play.
There are four players on each team. The game is played in a series of “ends”. Each team has eight rocks to throw in each end. Each player throws two per end. The teams alternate throwing their rocks, in the same order: Lead of Team A thows a rock, then the Lead of Team B, then the Lead of Team A again, and then the Lead of Team B. Then the Seconds of each team alternate throwing their rocks, then the Thirds, and finally the Skips. This order is based on the fact that the better shooters on each team throw later, when each shot may be trickier and call for better rock-throwing ability. Usually, the Skip on each team is the best shooter. (However, the order of shooting is not set in stone (or frozen in ice ;)); on some teams, the Skip may elect to throw in the third position and the Third shoots last, but that’s rare).
So what are the other three players on each team doing when someone is throwing? The Skip is standing in the rings at the other end of the sheet of ice (called the “house” at the other end of the “rink”.) The Skip is the captain of the team, and the grand strategist; the Skip’s roll is to call the shots. The Skip does that by determining where he/she wants the rock to go, and then signals it to the player who’s throwing the rock. The Skip does this by putting his/her broom on the ice in two different spots. First, the Skip taps the ice to show the thrower where the Skip wants the rock to end up; then, the Skip holds the broom at a different spot, where the thrower is to aim the rock.
Why a different spot to aim at? That’s where the curl comes in. When the thrower releases the rock, he/she puts a “curl” on it - a spin. There are two types of curls - an in-turn, by turning the wrist and elbow into the thrower’s body, and an out-turn, where the thrower turns the wrist and elbow outwards. That curl determines where the rock will go, because the spinning motion of the rock will move it sideways as it goes down the ice. (You have to give a curl intentionally, because if you release the rock without a curl, it will eventually acquire one randomly, and then you’ve got no idea where it will end up).
The Skip also gives the throwing player some indication of how “heavy” to throw the rock - that is, how hard to throw the rock. That’s often described by reference to a spot in the house - T-Line Weight, Ring Weight, Button Weight, or Hack Weight. Or, it can be described by the action the Skip wants. “Draw Weight” means that the Skip wants the rock to gently end at a particular spot in the rings, so the thrower doesn’t put a lot of force into the throw. “Take-out Weight” means that the Skip wants the rock to knock out another rock currently in play - to take it out of the game. That tells the throwing player to put a lot of force on it.
One of the techniques is to balance the curl against the weight. If you throw heavy, such as Take-out Weight, then the curl won’t have much impact of the ultimate location of the rock. However, if you’re throwing Draw Weight, then the curl will have a much greater impact on the trajectory of the rock.
And then there’s the ice. The quality of the ice is very important. If it’s not properly maintained by the rink officials, it can have uneven effects. There might be smooth patches and rough patches, where the curl doesn’t work much, or works too much. It may be uneven, so that a rock going over a particular patch drifts to the side. And, the ice conditions can change, based on the effect of the play going on, and the number of people in the building (they bring their body heat in, so a large number of spectators may affect the condition of the ice towards the end of the day).
The Skip’s job is not just to plan and call the shots, but to assess the ice and to call the weight based on his/her assessment of the ice conditions.
And then there’s the sweepers. Their job is to sweep in front of their team-mates’ rocks. When the Lead is shooting, the Second and Third sweep. When the Second is shooting, the Lead and Third sweep. And when the Third and Skip are shooting, the Lead and Second sweep. Note that the Skip never has to sweep - “rank hath its privileges.”
The sweeping has two purposes. First, it keeps the ice in front of the rock clean. A very tiny bit of grit or a hair from a broom can be enough to make the rock lose its curl and not end up where intended. Second, the sweeping can affect where the rock ends up, by extending the throw. Hard sweeping in front of the rock has the effect of momentarily melting the “pebble” on the ice (the ice isn’t smooth. Before the game, the ice-keeper sprinkles water on the ice, which freezes into little bumps, or “pebbles”.) That small amount of melted ice-water, sitting on top of the ice, makes the ice more slippery, so the rock will not slow down as much and will go a bit further. By keeping the speed up, the rock’s curl won’t have as much effect. The usual estimate is that good, hard sweeping can add as much as 10 to 15 feet to the rock’s trajectory.
The Skip monitors the speed of the rock as it comes down the sheet, and calls out to the sweepers how hard to sweep. “Clean” means that the Skip just wants one sweeper to sweep gently in front of the rock, to keep the ice clean but not to affect the weight - the Skip in that case is happy with the rock’s trajectory. “Hard” means the Skip wants the sweepers to sweep harder; “Hurry Hard!!!” means, “SWEEP, YOU LAZY BASTARDS!!!”
The sweepers are usually pretty nimble and don’t trip on the rocks already in play. But what would happen if they did?
There’s an official who has recorded the position of the rocks and is ready to step in to replace them as closely as possible if they’re disturbed.
Not entirely true. You can “burn” your own rock (have it removed from play) if you touch it while it’s moving.
ETA: And I don’t believe there’s an official for this. The teams agree themselves on the position. A lot of the rules are self-governed, I believe. (?)
There’s not usually officials in curling, but I think there are, at the competitive levels, such as the Olympics. For one thing, it’s hard to be self-governing if you don’t speak the language of the other team. And then, there’s so much at stake in the competitive levels that there is a need for officials.
But, I think that if the players can agree on where to replace a rock, there may not be any need to call in the officials.
BTW, watching women’s curling is awesome. Try it with your eyes closed.
Hurry.
HURRY!
HURRY HARD!
HURRY HARD!!!
HAAAAAARRRRRRDDDDD!!!
OK. Off, off, off…
Sending the rock down the ice requires almost no force. just the movement of the arm is sufficient to get it there. When you are drawing, you have to throw very lightly to keep from going through the house.
The ice is pebbled. It has millions of bumps the same size. So you can actually obtain some degree of grip on the surface with your shoes . You can also slide if you choose.
Things I like to explain to Curling Virgins, but sometimes have trouble explaining:
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Skipping looks passive, except when they’re screaming “Hurry!”, but it requires tremendous knowledge and experience–more than shooting or sweeping. You have to determine the strategy, read the ice (very difficult), position the target broom based on the previous, call the sweeping, and sometimes switch to a different plan in mid-call if the shooter misses.
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You’ll occasionally see a team score four or even five in an end. Nevertheless, a team down four or five with one or two ends to go will concede and end the game. The reason is that, at Olympic levels, you can’t get a big end when the other side’s only goal is to prevent it. (You just play a take-out game, and Olympians don’t miss take-outs.) You get big ends when the other side is itself trying to score, goes for broke, and misses.
Even at club level, if you’re down four with one end to go, it’s time to hit the bar.
True, but he was asking about rocks already in play.
At the major events there is. You’ll occasionally see them on broadcasts with their little magnetic mini ice rinks with “rocks” in place.
Ah. Thanks. This will now be something I will never be able to un-notice. 
When are the Curling events scheduled? I want to make sure I record them, or at least the US matches.
I don’t see an easy to navigate schedule of the times they intend to televise the curling.
Fantastic explanation, Northern Piper; thanks very much for taking the time. Now if only there were someplace in Atlanta I could give curling a try.
Obligatory heavy metal curling video:
It’s like a thousand pounds of awesomeness 
Oddly enough this article is on CNN’s front page…
I love that curling always tends to be televised in the wee hours of the morning. There’s something about watching it that’s particularly satisfying and compelling at 3 AM.