Before You Throw: Three Decisions
Every delivery starts with three choices made before you step into the hack. Getting these right is more important than any aspect of the physical slide.
- Turn (handle): in-turn or out-turn, which direction will the stone curl? You choose based on the path you need to reach your target.
- Weight: how far do you need this stone to travel? Are you drawing to the house, placing a guard, or making a takeout?
- Line: where is the skip holding the broom? That's your target. You aim your release at the broom, not directly at where you want the stone to end up; the curl handles the rest.
The skip's broom is your aiming point. You release the stone toward the broom and trust the skip's ice-reading to account for curl. A common beginner error is aiming at the final destination rather than the release line the skip has given you.
The Delivery, Step by Step
The hack is the rubber foothold embedded in the ice at each end. Your pushing foot goes in the hack. Grip the stone handle and set your intended rotation, in-turn or out-turn, before you start moving. Your non-pushing foot goes beside or slightly behind you for balance during the slide.
Slide the stone back slightly (the draw-back), then push forward out of the hack. The push-off is where your weight and speed are generated: everything downstream depends on how consistently you can replicate this push. Your body slides forward with the stone in a low crouch, balanced on the sliding foot.
You slide forward on the ice with the stone extended in front of you. Your weight is over the sliding foot, your body is low and stable. Keep your eye on the skip's broom. The slide continues until you release, ideally somewhere around the near hog line.
You must release the stone before it reaches the near hog line: holding on past the line is a hog-line violation and the stone is removed. At release, you impart your chosen rotation by turning the handle clockwise (in-turn) or counter-clockwise (out-turn). A clean release has a smooth, consistent follow-through in the direction of the broom.
After release the stone travels on its own. Your teammates watch its path and weight, listen to the skip's calls, and sweep as needed to extend its distance or straighten its curl. You watch from behind to offer a second opinion on weight and line.
In-turn vs. Out-turn
The handle rotation you apply at release determines which way the stone curls as it slows down. All stones curl; the direction just depends on which turn you threw.
The stone rotates clockwise and curls to the right as it loses speed. The curl path bends toward the inside, hence "in-turn." For left-handed players, in-turn is counter-clockwise and curls left.
The stone rotates counter-clockwise and curls to the left as it slows. The curl path bends away from the body: out-turn. For left-handed players, out-turn is clockwise and curls right.
Choosing the right turn is a strategy decision, not just mechanics. Some guard positions are only reachable with one turn. Come-around draws almost always use one turn to curve behind an existing guard. Your skip tells you which turn to throw; the delivery is the same either way, just mirror-image.
Tap the handle indicator before delivery to toggle between in-turn and out-turn. The stone's projected curl path updates on screen to show where it will travel with each choice.
Weight: How Hard You Throw
Weight is the term for how hard you throw, and therefore how far the stone travels. It's the single most practiced skill in curling because inconsistent weight makes all other skills meaningless. A perfect line means nothing if the stone comes 4 feet short of the house.
Weight is felt, not calculated. Experienced curlers develop an internal sense for the pace of their delivery that maps to predictable distances on a given sheet. This feel changes every time you play on a different sheet or at a different time of day as the ice conditions change.
Just crosses the far hog line. Stops well short of the house. Used for a long guard to protect a stone deep in the rings.
Stops in the guard zone, between hog and house. The most common delivery for the lead and second.
Reaches the house. Ideally the button area. The most important weight to be consistent at.
After a hit, the shooter dies around the far hack. Used for takeouts that stay in the rings.
Rolls to the back boards after impact. Clean removal: both stones exit.
Very fast. Used to remove a guard with authority. Both the shooter and guard exit the sheet.
The Split Time
At every serious club and competitive game, a player called the timer (or the skip from the far end) calls the split time: the elapsed time between when the stone crosses the back line behind the hack and when it crosses the far hog line. This single number tells the team almost exactly how far the stone will travel.
Every club and sheet will have its own split table, a set of target times for each weight category. But rough universal benchmarks give you a starting point:
| Weight | Typical Split (seconds) | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Guard | 3.8 – 4.2 s | Slow, stone dies in guard zone |
| Draw | 3.4 – 3.8 s | Standard drawing weight to the house |
| Hack Weight | 2.8 – 3.2 s | Takeout that stays near the rings |
| Board Weight | 2.4 – 2.8 s | Clean takeout; both stones exit |
| Peel Weight | under 2.2 s | Fast guard removal |
These numbers shift based on the ice speed, which varies by sheet, temperature, humidity, and how many ends have been played. A "fast" sheet (championship ice) requires more weight for a draw than a "slow" sheet. Learning to adjust your delivery feel to the sheet conditions is a core curling skill.
Enable the Weight Hint in Settings to see your estimated weight zone during delivery. The hint reads your swipe pace the same way a timer reads your split: it maps your gesture speed to Far Guard, Guard, Draw, Hack Weight, and so on. Use it to calibrate, then turn it off once you've built feel. The Ice Physics settings let you change how fast the ice plays, which changes the weight required for each shot, exactly as it does in real life.
Common Beginner Mistakes
Every beginner makes these. Knowing them in advance doesn't prevent them, only repetition does, but it helps you identify what's going wrong faster.
Holding the stone past the hog line is a violation: the stone is immediately removed regardless of where it ends up. New players often grip too long out of instinct. Practice letting go well before the line.
A full 360° spin on the handle gives the stone unpredictable spin that causes it to curl erratically and lose distance. The correct rotation is less than one full turn, about a quarter to a half turn at release.
Throwing 5 draws in a row and getting draw weight on only 2 of them. Inconsistent push-off from the hack is almost always the cause. Focus on a repeatable hack exit before anything else.
The stone will curl. If you aim directly at the button, a clockwise in-turn will take the stone to the right of the button. Aim where the skip is holding the broom: they've already accounted for the curl.
Eyes on the broom during your slide, not on the stone. You can feel the stone; you need to see the line. Looking down breaks balance and causes off-line releases.
Rising out of your low slide position as you release causes the stone to be pushed upward rather than forward, resulting in a hard, erratic delivery. Stay low through the full release.
How Delivery Works in Curling Ice
Curling Ice maps real delivery mechanics to the swipe gesture as directly as the touchscreen allows:
- Swipe speed maps to weight: faster swipe, more distance. The pace of your swipe from the back line to the hog line is your split time equivalent.
- Turn selection sets the curl direction before you throw. Tap the handle to toggle between in-turn and out-turn.
- Swipe direction is your release line: aim toward the skip's broom marker, not directly at the house.
- Swipe Assist (Settings) normalizes your gesture into consistent weight zones, compensating for the lack of physical tactile feedback on a touchscreen. Recommended for most devices.
The in-game tutorial walks through each of these with a coach character giving real-time feedback. It's the same delivery fundamentals as the real sport, adapted for mobile input.