II.

Playing Area

Curling originated as an outdoor game played on frozen lakes and rivers, but today it is played almost exclusively indoors at curling clubs or ice rinks built specifically for the sport. A typical North American club has six to eight playing areas. These playing areas are long and narrow sheets of ice. The club may also include locker rooms, a restaurant, and a viewing area that overlooks the ice.

A sheet of curling ice is 146 ft (44.5 m) long and 14 ft (4.3 m) wide. Embedded in the ice 4 ft (1.2 m) from the sheet’s end is a foothold called a hack. Each end of the sheet also has a circle 12 ft (3.7 m) in diameter, called the house. The house has three concentric scoring rings of different colors. The center of each circle, called the tee, is 12 ft (3.7 m) from the hack.

Players begin their throws by pushing off from the hack and gliding along with the stone as it slides down the ice. A line called the hog line, 33 ft (10.1 m) down the ice from the hack, marks how far players can glide before releasing the stone. Once released, the stone must pass beyond the hog line at the other end of the ice to remain in play. It also cannot pass beyond the back line directly behind the house at the other end of the ice, or hit the short side walls that serve as sidelines for the playing area. The side walls prevent stones from sliding onto neighboring sheets of ice.