Curling

A precision sport somewhat related to bowls, but played on ice with polished heavy stones rather than plastic balls.

The curling arena is a sheet of ice approximately 43 x 4.3 metres, carefully prepared for absolute flatness and for the near frictionless glide of the "rocks" as the polished granite 22 kg stones are called. On the rink, a circular set of concentric rings around a target is painted near each end of the rink.

Curling is played between two teams of four. In each team, one person is responsible for setting the stone in motion, two people are equipped with brooms with which they can vigorously sweep the ice in front of the path so as to alter its trajectory, and a captain to tell the others what tactics to use.

Each team takes turns to release and sweep their rocks into position. After both teams have delivered eight rocks each, the team with the closest rock to the target is awarded one point for each rock that is closer than the opponent's closest. The winner is the team with the highest score after a specified number of "ends", often 10 or 12.

Curling is most popular in Canada, but is played in other countries including the United States and Scotland. There is some national variation of the rules.