The One Rule That Explains Everything
In most sports, both teams score throughout the game. Curling works differently. At the end of each end (one complete round of 16 stones), only one team scores, and they score all at once based on where the stones are.
This single fact is what makes curling strategy so deep. Every shot is about either setting up a big score for your team or preventing your opponent from scoring at all, never both at the same time.
The core rule: Count how many of your stones are closer to the button than your opponent's closest stone. That number is your score for the end. The other team scores zero.
What Counts as “In the House”
The house is the set of four concentric rings at each end of the sheet. A stone must be at least partially inside the outer 12-foot ring to be eligible to score. A stone that is entirely outside, even if it's only an inch past the edge, does not count.
The button is the centre point. The team with the stone closest to the button at the end of the end is the scoring team. They then count all of their additional stones that are closer to the button than the opponent's nearest stone.
When it's close, the vice-skips from both teams measure using a specially calibrated device. If stones are touching, the measurement determines which is fractionally closer. A stone fully outside the house is never measured, it just doesn't count.
A Scoring Example
This is one of the most common end positions in competitive curling. Red has three stones in the house; Yellow has one. Here's how it scores:
Counting the score
If Yellow had a stone that was, say, at the 6-foot ring, closer to the button than R3, then only R1 and R2 would count. Red would score 2 instead of 3. The opponent's closest stone acts as a hard cutoff.
Blank Ends
A blank end happens when no stones from either team are in the house after all 16 have been thrown, or when the stones that are in the house perfectly cancel each other out in terms of closest-to-button. No score is recorded.
More importantly: the team that had hammer keeps it for the next end.
This makes blanking a deliberate strategic tool, not just an accident. A team holding hammer but unable to score well will sometimes choose to blank, throwing the last stone through the house on purpose, in order to preserve last-rock advantage for a more favourable end later.
Watching a team blank an end intentionally is one of the moments that surprises new viewers most. Now you know why: keeping the hammer is sometimes worth more than taking a single point.
Steals
A steal happens when the team without hammer scores. It's considered one of the most exciting and valuable outcomes in curling because it does two things at once: it puts points on the board and takes hammer away from the opponent.
The team with hammer is expected to score, that's the whole point of last-rock advantage. When they don't, the non-hammer team has effectively won the end twice over.
When the non-hammer team limits the hammer team to scoring just 1 point. Considered a minor win for the defense: they gave up the minimum, and they receive hammer next end.
The non-hammer team scores 1. A major swing: they score a point AND take the hammer. This changes the momentum of a match dramatically.
Rare and devastating. The non-hammer team scores multiple points. Almost always the result of a significant error by the hammer team or an extraordinary shot by the stealer.
Reading a Scorecard
Curling uses a running scorecard where each end is recorded separately. Here's a sample 8-end game. Red had hammer to start (indicated by the asterisk or a coloured marker on a real scoreboard).
| End | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red ★ | 2 | – | 1 | – | – | 3 | – | 2 | 8 |
| Yellow | – | 1 | – | 2 | 1 | – | 2 | – | 6 |
A dash means that team scored zero that end (the other team scored). End 2: Yellow scored 1 (forced Red to blank or stole). End 5: Yellow scored 1 (steal: Red had hammer but Yellow scored). End 7: Yellow scored 2 (steal). Final score: Red 8, Yellow 6.
Notice that typical scores are low, 6-8 points total per team across a full game. A 3-point end is a big end. Scoring 2 consistently with hammer is considered good execution.
Hammer & Scoring Strategy
Nearly all scoring strategy flows from one question at the start of each end: does our team have hammer?
With hammer: aim for 2 or more
Scoring just 1 point with hammer is considered a poor result: you gave your opponent hammer next end without making them work for it. The ideal outcome is 2, which is achievable in most ends with good execution. Scoring 3 or more requires either a great end or an opponent mistake.
Without hammer: force or steal
The team without hammer aims to either steal (score anything) or force the opponent to only score 1. A "force to 1" is considered a win for the non-hammer team: they held the opponent to the minimum and now receive hammer.
End-game arithmetic
Score awareness changes dramatically in the final ends. Some examples:
- Down 1, last end, with hammer: draw to score 2 to win. A steal would also win. A blank just ties. Most exciting position in the game.
- Up 1, last end, without hammer: opponent needs 2 to win; needs 1 to tie. Force them to 1 and the game goes to an extra end. Steal and it's over.
- Up 3, last end, opponent has hammer: they need exactly 3 to tie (they'll blank if they score 2 to keep hammer). Force them to 2 to win the game outright.
- Tied, last end, with hammer: never blank, you need to score to win. Play aggressively for a 2 or accept a steal risk.
Curling Ice tracks score and hammer across all ends. Playing even 3 ends against the AI will make the force-vs-steal-vs-blank decision feel intuitive in a way reading about it doesn't.
Common Questions
Why don't all stones in the house score?
Only your stones that are closer to the button than the opponent's nearest stone count. The opponent's closest stone acts as a boundary. Once you hit their nearest stone in the ranking, you stop counting. This is why removing the opponent's closest stone is often strategically more valuable than adding your own: it can turn a 1-point end into a 3-point end by eliminating the cutoff.
What if the closest stone is exactly tied?
If two stones from opposing teams are measured to be the exact same distance from the button, a genuinely rare outcome, neither team scores. It's treated as a blank end. In practice, the measuring device almost always finds a winner.
Can a team score zero and have the game end?
A team doesn't lose just by scoring zero in an end, that just means the other team scored. The game ends after all ends are played (or when a team concedes), and the team with the most total points wins. Ties are broken by extra ends played until one team scores.
Is there a mercy rule?
Yes. At the competitive level, a team trailing by a large margin (typically 8 points with only a few ends left) can concede the game by shaking hands early. This is not considered poor sportsmanship in curling; it's a respected tradition. Casual games often play to the full end count regardless.