Unusual Sports
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Curling
category: bowling & rolling
Curling, which originated in Scotland, is a Winter sport played on a rectangular sheet ice with large heavy, polished granite stones. It was originally an outdoor sport, but is now played indoors on specially prepared ice, and played around the world (not just in wintertime).
It is not as simple as it seems, some people refer to curling as 'chess on ice', based on its technical and strategic requirements.
The game is similar to bowls and shuffleboard. It is a team sport, played by two teams of four players. Teams take turns sliding the stones down the ice towards the target. Two sweepers with brooms also accompany each stone to help direct them. When required, the sweepers vigorously sweep the ice, which melts the ice for a moment, reduces friction and can affect the path of the stone.
The aim is to get the stone to stop in 'the house', a target at the end of the ice track, and the center point of the target is called the button. Basically, after each end the team closest to the button gets one point for every stone closer than the other team's best effort. The team with the most points in the match wins.
Related Pages
- more unusual sports
- videos of unusual sports
- Curling is played the Winter Olympics
