Curling is a winter team sport popular in Canada and other “snowy” countries. Competitors throw 44-pound granite stones (or "rocks") down an ice sheet into a bulls-eye target area (the “house”) at either end of the 155 foot playing surface. Teammates often furiously sweep the ice with brooms to affect a thrown rock’s speed or trajectory. This is a finesse sport. In Big Time Curling two players each hold an 8-card hand composed of three types of cards: Guards, Draws and Takeouts. Guards are blocking stones that make it harder to throw (or "draw") a stone into the bulls-eye ("house") or remove ("takeout") one. After all 16 cards have been played a round ("end") is completed. The stone closest to the center of the house determines the winner of the “end”. The winning team scores a point for each rock closer to the center than the opponents’ best rock -- while the opposing team doesn’t score at all! All cards are reshuffled and a new round is played. After ten rounds the game is complete. The player with the higher score wins. -description from designer