Curling is played on a long strip of ice called a curling sheet. It is 45 metres long and max. 5 metres wide. There are two circles, which are called the houses, one at each end of the sheet. Each house has four rings (of white, blue, and red) which define which stone is the closest to the centre, known as a button.

Hack point or hack line. Some people also call it hogline. There are two of them on the sheet: far and near. This is the line which the stone must cross to be in play. Simply speaking, it’s a point where a thrower must release the stone. The hogline makes a starting point for the stone to slide.

After releasing, the stone is controlled by the sweepers. Sweeping is absolutely critical. It warms up the ice and reduces friction. Consequently, the stone curls less and moves straighter. Sweeping changes the path of the stone and if the stone doesn’t move too fast, it can be brought wherever the players lead it. Sweeping also cleans the ice of dirt. It’s not easy work, though. The sweepers must apply a lot of pressure to the ice by their weight on the brooms.

The house is also called the “rings” or “target rings.” It is the name of the huge bullseye at either end of the sheet of ice. It’s the scoring zone where a team gets a point for each stone that is closer to the centre circle than the opponents’ best stone. Stones must be inside or partly touching this zone in order to score.

The central point of the house is the tee. It’s the smallest circle at the centre of the house. The team whose stone is the closest to the centre wins the end. In curling, the stone that is closest to the button after the final stone is thrown in an end is called the shot rock.

Curling has introduced international wheelchair accessibility standards. People with physical impairments can still enjoy the sport. Some of them may use a delivery stick to play the game. The stick holds on to the handle of the stone. Then it is pushed along by the curler and pulled back on the cue, which releases it from the stone.