Completely Curling

Warning!! Pinch writer tonight.

I joined the rest of my research team today from the university in a friendly team building activity of curling.  That is right, curling.  Invented in Scotland hundreds of years ago, it is like bowling, but with a polished stone and no pins.  A bit more like shuffleboard possibly, but vigorous sweeping and more strategy about stone placement.  It has been called the "chess of the ice".

Each team has 4 players.  One player stands on one side of the ice, while the shooter stands on the other.  The tee puts up his/her broom as a straight line, much like a flag in golf, so the shooter knows how far and where to hurt the stone.  The basic idea of this game is to hurl a stone on the ice toward the tee that is standing on a target, or "house", on the other side of the ice lane that is about 150 feet long and 15 feet wide.  It does not take much to slide the stone, in fact a bit too much push and it will go past the target and too little it will not get anywhere near.

In addition to the tee and the shooter, two teammates either leave the stone alone, or sweep vigorously in front of the stone to reduce the friction from bumpy ice in front of its path.  A swept path can increase the distance the stone slides up to 20 feet in some cases.  If a stone stops inside the target, anywhere on the target, the team gets a point.  If both teams get stones inside the target, the closer to the  tee or button at the center of the target get the point.  Each round consists of everyone shooting on the team and trading off roles on the ice.  I still don't understand the rules of the rotation, but I just followed along.  My favorite part was sweeping, what a work out!

The ice is surprisingly bumpy as they prepare it by spraying water to increase the friction.  Professionals wear a slippery show on one foot and a rubber soled shoe on the other for traction.  We just wore trainers.  Our team lost 3 to 5 at the end of four rounds.  My moment of glory was hitting the tee or button at the center of the target on one turn.  However, it got hit out of the target by the other team, which is a strategy, by their hurled stone.  It is a fairly slow in coming game expect for the vigorous sweeping, and even that is fairly calming.  It is a social game, strategic game, cold temperature game, and very Scottish.  

The interior of Murrayfield Curling Ice House in Edinburgh.

Curling stones: polished granite from Scotland with a handle affixed to the top.  The shooter must hurl the stone using the handle with a twist.  The twisting action of the wrist when sliding and releasing causes the stone to spin slowly as it slides down the lane.  The turing of the stone causes it to curl or arc down the path, keeping it ultimately straight and even able to hit other stones or wrap around a stone in front of it.  Cool game.