1 team
Only one team can score in a curling end
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Photo: Chase N. · CC BY-SA 2.0
The short answer
After an end, the team with the stone closest to the button scores for each eligible stone closer than its opponents’ nearest stone. Rings are not separate fixed-value scoring zones.
Why it's true
Curling scores an end by comparing stones, not by adding values painted on the target. The team with the nearest eligible stone to the tee, commonly described as the button’s centre, scores one point for each of its eligible stones closer than the opponents’ nearest eligible stone. The other team receives no points for that end.
A stone must be in or touching the house to be eligible to score. A stone outside the house can have major tactical value as a guard, yet contribute no point itself. Being visible on the sheet, or being closer than some opposing stones, does not replace the requirement to reach the scoring area.
By the numbers
1
Maximum scoring teams per end
8
Stones per traditional team
4
Players per traditional team
How we know
World Curling’s rules distinguish scoring eligibility from the comparison that determines points. The house supplies the eligibility boundary; relative distance from the tee supplies the ranking. This is why the coloured rings are useful visual references rather than separate fixed-value bands like those on a dartboard.
The count is made after the end has finished and the relevant stones have come to rest. Stones that looked dominant halfway through can be removed, promoted or displaced by later deliveries. Announcing a score while stones are still moving is commentary shorthand, not a completed scoring decision.
Worth remembering
- Only one team can score per end.
- Rings are not separate point values.
- The nearest opponent sets the scoring cutoff.
In context
Four-player teams normally deliver eight stones each per end, two per player. That gives a theoretical eight-point maximum for one team if all eight eligible stones beat every opposing stone. It is a ceiling from the stone count, not a suggestion that eight is routine. The actual score depends on the final arrangement and any relevant rule decisions.
Mixed doubles has different delivery and pre-positioned-stone arrangements, so its tactical possibilities and counting context should not be inferred simply from a four-player lineup. The basic comparison still explains why only one colour scores. Distinguishing the shared scoring principle from format-specific procedures makes highlights much easier to follow.
A closer look
A worked house with red and yellow stones
Suppose red has stones 20, 50 and 90 centimetres from the tee, while yellow’s nearest is 70 centimetres away. Assuming all these stones are eligible and there are no closer stones, red scores two. Its 90-centimetre stone does not count because yellow’s 70-centimetre stone intervenes in the ranking. Yellow scores nothing despite occupying the house.
Now move yellow’s nearest stone to 10 centimetres from the tee. Yellow becomes the scoring team. Its total depends on how many yellow stones beat red’s closest stone, now the 20-centimetre one. Moving just one stone can therefore reverse which colour scores without removing every opposing stone from the rings.
The rings do not need to be considered one by one. A stone barely biting the outer edge of the house can score if it is closer than every opposing eligible stone. Conversely, a stone near the button can be worth nothing if an opponent is closer. Position matters through comparison, not through a printed points tariff.
Blank ends, measurements and the hammer
If neither team has an eligible scoring stone, the end is blank and neither scores. A stone can touch the house by overhanging its outer edge without its running surface sitting inside the painted ring. In close cases, eligibility and comparative distance are matters for measurement and the applicable procedures, not an assumption based on a camera angle.
If the closest opposing stones are exactly equal and a decision cannot be reached under the measuring procedures, the rules can produce a blank end. That exceptional result does not mean both teams share a point. The principle remains that an end does not award scoring points to both teams merely because both have impressive positions.
The last-stone advantage is called the hammer. In traditional team curling, scoring normally transfers that advantage to the opponents for the next end, while blanking normally retains it. This makes a deliberate blank strategically meaningful: a team may prefer no immediate points to taking only one and surrendering its chance to construct a larger score next time.
Related facts
Separate the team’s scoring outcome from the roles deciding how its stones are delivered. A curling skip does not have to throw the last stones.
Rugby’s try and conversion show why one attack can produce separate scoring events. A rugby union try and conversion are worth seven points together.
Another scoring comparison turns on bat contact and the journey to cricket’s boundary. A boundary six requires the ball to have been struck by the bat.
Football likewise separates a player’s position from the later action that creates an offence. Being in an offside position is not itself an offence.
Key terms
- End
- Completed segment after which stones are compared for score.
- Button
- Centre point used to judge which stone is closest.
People also ask
Can both teams score in the same end?
No. Points go to the team with the closest eligible stone, for its stones beating the opponents’ closest. If there is no scoring result, the end is blank rather than split between both teams.
Are the inner rings worth more points?
No. The rings do not carry separate point values. They help show position, while distance from the tee relative to opposing stones determines which eligible stones count.
Do two stones in the house guarantee two points?
No. Both must be closer than the opponents’ nearest eligible stone. If an opposing stone lies between them in the distance ranking, only the closer one counts.
Can a stone touching the outer ring score?
Yes, if it is in or touching the house and wins the required comparison. A marginal stone can need measurement to determine whether it actually reaches the house.
What is a blank end?
An end in which neither team scores. An empty house is a familiar example; the rules also address unresolved equality between the nearest opposing stones.
