Curling

Slide six stones up the ice. The closer your stones end up to the bullseye, the higher your score.

How to play

Press and drag anywhere on the ice to set the throw direction and power. A dashed line shows where the stone will go and how far. Release to throw.

The stone slides on the ice, slowing from friction, and collides with stones already on the sheet. Side rails bounce the stone back in.

You throw six stones in a row. Stones placed earlier remain on the ice and can be bumped, pushed, or protected by later throws. After all six come to rest, the score is added up:

• Bullseye (centre): 4 points
• Inner ring: 3 points
• Middle ring: 2 points
• Outer ring: 1 point
• Outside the rings: 0

The perfect run scores 24 — but stones in the centre push each other out, so getting there is harder than it looks.

Tips & strategy

First stones get the bullseye. Throw your first one or two stones with maximum care: just enough power to slide it deep into the house and exactly enough aim to put it in the centre. These are the stones that will be doing the scoring at the end, so spend your attention here, not on the last stones.

Later stones should bump existing stones inward or protect them. If your first stone landed near the bullseye, the worst thing you can do with the next throw is plough straight into it and knock it out — instead, throw a guard, a stone deliberately placed in front of the house to block opponent-style angles (or, more practically here, to absorb later mistakes). If your first stone landed short or wide, use a follow-up stone to bump it inward at an angle: a glancing blow toward the centre is often more effective than throwing a fresh stone and hoping.

Power control beats aim — and especially with power, hard throws are usually worse. A stone with too much power either flies past the house entirely or smacks your good stones into the back wall. A stone with slightly too little power lands short but stays in the rings. When in doubt, throw soft and add aim correction — the friction of the ice forgives short throws far more readily than long ones.