Score
0
Stone
1/6
Best
—
Slide six stones up the ice. The closer your stones end up to the bullseye, the higher your score.
Press and drag anywhere on the ice to set the throw direction and power. A dashed arrow points the way the stone will go; the arrow's length and the coloured ring around the stone show how hard you are throwing, not how far it will slide. Release to throw.
The stone slides on the ice, slowing from friction, and collides with stones already on the sheet. Rails on all four sides, including the far wall behind the house, 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
Six bullseyes would make 24, but that can't happen: stones can't overlap, and at most four fit inside the bullseye at once. Stones in the centre also push each other out, so every extra point takes real precision.
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 absorb later mistakes (there is no opponent, so the only stones that can knock yours out are your own). 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. A straight draw to the bullseye needs only about a quarter of full power (the power ring around the stone roughly a quarter full), and a touch less still stops in the rings. Every side of the sheet bounces, so a hard throw is not simply lost: the stone hits the back wall, keeps a little over half its speed and slides back down, and at a bit over 40% power a lone stone banks back onto the bullseye. Past half power it rebounds right out of the house, and a full-power throw comes all the way back to you. The bank shot is a fair option on an empty sheet, but it crosses the house twice and scatters stones in its path, so once you have good stones in the rings, the soft draw is the safer throw.