Curling 101 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Scotland

There is ample evidence for the game's origin in Scotland in the 16th Century. Curling stones inscribed with the dates 1511 and 1551 were recovered from a pond in Dunblane, Scotland. Documents in Paisley Abbey describe a game involving stones on ice dating from the winter of 1541.

Although curling is popular in each of the other countries, especially in Canada, its origins can generally be traced to Scotland.

Answer: 1924

Four teams participated in the 1924 curling competition at the Olympics. Great Britain and France each fielded (iced?) a team, and Sweden fielded two. Each team received a medal, with the British team taking the gold, each of the Swedish teams receiving a silver, and the French team was awarded the bronze. Curling was not a medal event again until 1998 in Nagano, Japan, although it was a demonstration event in 1932, 1988, and 1992.

Answer: 4

Curling is played by two teams of four players, each delivering two stones. A curling team is sometimes called a "rink" (which is also where curling is played). The players on each team alternate their deliveries. When each team has delivered all eight stones, the round, or "end", in curling-speak, is over, and the score is determined. The delivery of the first stone in the first end is determined through a couple of different methods, but the first stone in subsequent ends is delivered by the team who scored most recently. Most matches are 8 ends long, taking about 2 hours to complete, but major tournaments (or "bonspiels", in curling-speak) are 10 ends long.

There are official rules for "mixed doubles" curling, where there are only two players on each team, and each team delivers 5 stones each in an end. Each team also begins an end with one pre-positioned stone.

Answer: The house

After all the stones are delivered in an end, the teams figure out which team has a stone closest to the center (called the "button") of the house. The house is 12 feet in diameter, and is separated by concentric rings on the ice at twelve feet (usually the blue ring), eight feet (not colored), and four feet (the red ring). The button is one foot in diameter, and is not colored.

A team scores one point for each of its own stones located in or touching the house that are closer to the center of the house than any stone of the other team. Only the team that has the stone closest to the center can score points in that end. This stone is called the "shot rock".

Answer: Skip

The skip of the delivering team has some special privileges and responsibilities. He or she is "in charge of the house" and may stand on the ice adjacent to the house so that he can direct the player delivering the stone and the other players who are sweeping.

When it is the skip's turn to deliver, the vice-skip takes this role. The skip and/or vice-skip of the non-delivering team may stand at the end of the ice, but the other players on that team must stand out of the way at the sides of the ice.

Answer: Bee line

The center line runs the length of the ice, down the center. The tee line is perpendicular to the center line, and runs through the center of the house. The hog line runs parallel to the tee line, and is 21 feet from the tee line. Two other important lines are the back line, and the two sidelines. The back line touches the outer edge of the house, parallel to the tee line. The sidelines run the length of the ice, and set the width of the playing surface. The width of the ice can be no more than 16 feet, 5 inches (5m).

The center line helps judge the placement of each stone. A stone which does not completely cross the far hog line is removed from play right away, unless it strikes another stone. Any stone which completely crosses the back line is also removed from play, as is any stone which even touches a sideline.

Answer: To directly push the stone into the desired path

Modern brooms are made from synthetic materials as opposed to the original straw, though it is still legal to use a straw broom. Sweeping the ice vigorously in front of the stone melts the ice slightly, which reduces the friction between the stone and the ice, therefore making the stone travel farther. This action also makes the stone's path straighter. Also, sweepers will sweep the ice ahead of the stone much less rapidly to clear any foreign material from the stone's path.
It is absolutely prohibited to touch a stone in motion. This is called "burning" a stone.
A team may only sweep that team's stones, with one exception. When a stone crosses the far tee line, that stone may be swept by any team, though the team to which the stone belongs has first privilege to sweep its stone. Only the skip of the non-delivering team can sweep a stone under these circumstances.

Answer: Remove the stone from play immediately, if it hasn't reached the far hog line

If a player touches one of his team's stones in motion, with a broom or otherwise before it reaches the far hog line, it should be immediately removed from play. If a player touches the other team's delivered stone before it comes to rest, it is redelivered.

It becomes much more complicated if the stone is touched after it crosses the hog line. All stones are allowed to come to rest, and the other team has the option of: 1) either removing the touched stone, and replacing all stones moved by the touched stone to their original positions, 2) letting all stones stand where they stopped, or 3) placing all stones where the other team reasonably thinks the stones would have ended up if the stone wasn't touched in the first place.

Answer: The players themselves

Like golf, the players have the responsibility of calling themselves on rules violations. While umpires are present at each tournament, they are not generally assigned to specific matches, and their primary role is to settle close calls, if the teams cannot agree on a result.

Answer: Yes

The FGZ allows a team to attempt to make it harder for the other team to place its stones in the house. Stones (of both sides) in the FGZ cannot be removed from play before the fifth stone of the end is delivered. A team can remove its own stone from the FGZ, however. If the opposing team knocks a team's stone out of the FGZ before the fifth stone is played, the stone in the FGZ is replaced in its original position, and the stone which knocked the original stone out of the FGZ is removed from play.