How to Play Curling: A Complete Beginner’s Guide

Why is curling so hard to actually try in England?

Because there is almost nowhere to do it.

Scottish Curling, the governing body for the sport north of the border, lists 21 ice rinks with curling facilities in Scotland. In England the game is played at three places: Tunbridge Wells Curling Club in Kent, The Flower Bowl near Preston, and Cambridge Ice Centre. Wales has none at all.

Now set that against how many people live in each country. England had 58,620,100 residents at mid-2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. Scotland had 5,546,900, according to National Records of Scotland. That is one place to curl for every 264,000 people in Scotland, and one for every 19.5 million in England.

So the rules below describe a ten-end, four-player sport that almost nobody reading this in England is going to play first. Knowing how curling works and knowing how to have a go at it are two different questions, and this guide answers both.

How does a game of curling work?

Two teams of four take turns sliding heavy stones down a long strip of ice towards a circular target called the house. Every player throws two stones, so sixteen are thrown before the round is finished. Whoever has a stone closest to the centre at that point scores.

The strip of ice is called the sheet and runs to roughly 45 metres. The dead centre of the house is the button. One round of play is an end, and a full game is ten of them, or eight in shorter formats and in mixed doubles.

Each player has a fixed job. The lead throws stones one and two, the second throws three and four, the third throws five and six, and the skip throws seven and eight while directing the team from the far end of the sheet. That final stone is the one every team wants.

Teammates brush the ice in front of a moving stone to carry it further and straighten its path, which is what all the frantic sweeping is for. For the sport’s background rather than its mechanics, we have written about what curling is and where it came from.

How does scoring work in curling?

Only one team scores in each end. That team takes a point for every one of its stones sitting closer to the button than the opposition’s best stone, so a good end can be worth four or five at once.

A stone has to be touching the house to count at all. Sitting just outside the outer ring is worth nothing, however close it looks from the other end.

Points accumulate across all ten ends and the highest total wins. An end where neither side scores is a blank end, and teams sometimes set one up on purpose, which is why a team occasionally chooses to score nothing.

What makes a first game work for a group?

Five questions decide whether a first game is any good, and they are worth settling before you look anywhere to play.

Start with how long you spend being taught before you are actually playing. Ice curling asks you to push out of a fixed foothold and balance on one foot while you slide, and that takes most people a while to get anywhere near.

Then ask how many of your group can play at the same time. Team size and group size are not the same number. A session that takes four people while the other eleven hold a drink and watch is not the evening anybody booked.

The third question is whether you can reach it, which for most of England ends the conversation before it starts.

Fourth, does it work for a group with a wide range of ages and mobility? Scottish Curling is clear on this: delivery sticks let a stone be thrown from a standing position or from a wheelchair, and its sessions are open to wheelchair users. Any format worth your money should be able to answer that question.

Last, when can you go, and how far ahead do you need to book? Almost every route into curling in Britain is seasonal, capped and booked well in advance.

What is ice-free curling?

Ice-free curling is the same game played on a smooth synthetic surface laid over a solid floor. It also goes by floor curling. The stones, the house, the ends and the scoring all work exactly as described above.

Two things change. There is no sweeping, because there is no pebbled ice to brush. And there is no sliding delivery, so you stand, push and let go. Most people land a decent shot within their first few throws. There is more on how a session runs from arrival to the last stone if you want the detail.

How does ice-free curling compare with the ice game?

Take those five questions in the same order.

Learning time goes to ice-free, comfortably. Nothing to balance on and no technique standing between you and your first shot.

Group size is close to a tie. Our sheets take six to ten players in an hour, and Scottish Curling caps its public taster sessions at eight beginners. Neither is better than the other.

Reach goes to ice-free, and this is the honest heart of it. Two London venues, plus kit that travels anywhere in the country.

Mixed groups go the same way. No cold, no ice underfoot, no borrowed shoes, and none of the fitness that sweeping demands.

Season goes to ice curling. The Flower Bowl runs all year round. Our venues do not.

There is a bigger concession to make than any of those. Ice curling is the real sport. Our stones are lighter than the granite ones used in competition, there is no sweeping, and nobody has ever won an Olympic medal on a synthetic floor. If what you want is the thing you watched at the Games, go to an ice rink. We are an Official Partner of the Team GB Foundation and we work with the Olympic curlers Eve Muirhead and Jen Rouse, which is exactly why we would rather say that than pretend otherwise.

Where can you play curling in the UK?

On ice in England there are three options. Tunbridge Wells Curling Club in Kent runs a dedicated three-sheet rink, though unless you live in the south east it is a long drive at both ends of the day. The Flower Bowl near Preston has four sheets and opens year round, sitting inside a complex with bowling lanes and a cinema, so weekend slots tend to go early. Cambridge Curling Club meets at Cambridge Ice Centre on shared ice roughly once a week, which means the calendar picks your date rather than you picking it.

Scotland has 21 rinks with curling facilities, spread from Kelso up to Aberdeen. Wales has none, and there is currently nowhere to try the sport in Ireland.

For ice-free curling, we run two London sites. Vinegar Yard sits near London Bridge, and Chelsea runs alongside the Winter Illuminations. Both take groups from two people upwards, and up to 450 for a full venue buyout. If you are nowhere near London, we can bring the sheets to your own venue anywhere in the UK.

What does a first session cost, and when can you play?

Pay and Play at either London venue is £15 a person, which buys 30 minutes for two to four players or a full hour for six to ten. Food and drinks are ordered separately from the street food and bar list. Groups over ten are asked to get in touch so we can build a slot around the numbers.

The House holds a reserved area for three hours with a drink, a small plate and an hour on the sheet. Curls of Wisdom runs to four hours with three drinks and a main meal.

Ice sessions are shaped differently. A three-evening beginners course at one Scottish rink was listed at £65.50, and public taster sessions are usually booked out weeks ahead.

Our own weakness belongs here rather than buried. Both London venues trade for a season, roughly November to February, and outside that window they are shut. An ice rink is the year-round answer and we are not. If your date falls inside the season, you can see which sessions are open.

Ready to slide a stone?

You now know how an end plays out, how a point is won and what to ask before booking anything. Ice-free curling answers the learning time, the reach and the mixed-group questions well, ties on group size, and loses on season and on authenticity. If you want to know whether your date and your numbers work, send them over and we will tell you either way.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a game of curling take? A competition game runs about two to two and a half hours across ten ends. Beginner sessions are usually an hour or less and play fewer ends.

Do you need any experience to play curling? No. Venues running beginner sessions expect you to arrive knowing nothing, and a coach or member of staff talks you through the delivery before you throw.

Is curling physically demanding? Sweeping is the demanding part and it is hard work at pace. Throwing a stone is not, and there is no sweeping at all in the ice-free game.

What should you wear to play curling? On ice, warm loose clothing and a clean pair of flat rubber-soled trainers to change into at the rink. On a synthetic floor, whatever you arrived in.

Can children play curling? Yes at most venues, usually above a minimum age. Our Chelsea site sits inside the Winter Illuminations and is the more family-focused of the two.

Can you play curling if you use a wheelchair? Scottish Curling says yes on ice, using a delivery stick that lets a stone be thrown from a seated position, and its sessions are open to wheelchair users.