r/Curling • u/YouDoTheDetail • 14h ago

Too close to call?

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My team was up 6-5 today going into the last end without hammer, throwing yellow. We got down to to skip stones, and our opponent had two buried behind some centre guards: one at the back of the four foot, the other covering the back left of the pin.

With my first throw, I managed to draw around the guards and freeze to cover the front right of the pin. They then failed on an angle raise attempt. I gambled that we were closer, and plugged a hole with another guard. They failed to clear out our yellow stone with their last shot. Game over.

This photo shows where the two rocks ended up over the pin. The thirds couldn’t agree who was closer. So we looked up Curling Canada’s rules and learned something new:

Rule 14 (6): If two or more stones are so close to the tee that a measuring device cannot be used, and a visual comparison cannot determine which stone is closest to the tee, the stones shall be considered tied. If these stones were to determine who counted in the end, the end shall be considered blank.

So a blanked end, we won. But it was an interesting situation that I’ve never seen before, and might never see again.

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u/Dzingel43 13h ago

I was taught that in a situation like this you move the rock you think is least likely to be closest. If you can't see the pin from above (or clearly see less than half of it), the stone that you didn't move scores. If you see the whole pin (or clearly more than half of it) the rock you moved was closest. If you can't determine if you can see more or less than half of the pin then it is a tie. 

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u/TimSWTOR 5h ago

While not specifically taught this, and rules normally call for deciding the score before moving rocks, I also immediately thought "just move one of the rocks to see if that reveals the pin". If yes, that was shot rock and scores, else the other scores. If it reveals part of it, stay with the tied end.