The Game

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Basic Strategy - The objective in curling is to score more points than the opposition. Achieving this objective requires a strategy or game plan that matches the strengths of the team members to a style of play.  Although strategy is primarily the skip's responsibility, every member of the team must understand what is going on at all times for a strategy to work most effectively. There are several factors to consider for the both the strategy of the entire game and the strategy used for each shot called; which team has last rock, the end being played, the score, ice conditions, strengths and weaknesses (both yours and the opponent's) and the Free Guard Zone (FGZ) rule used.

TYPES OF SHOTS - The draw and the takeout are the two basic shots in curling.  There are many variations on those two basic shots.  The variations are used because often strategy makes them more appropriate.
DRAW - a shot that stops in or in front of the house.
TAKEOUT - a shot that moves fast enough to take another rock out of play.
Skips will call for different speeds of takeout shots depending on what they want to accomplish.  Lighter takeouts tend to favour the rock that was thrown staying in play and heavier takeouts tend to favour removing more than one stone or having the shot thrown out of play.
GUARD (draw) - a stone that ends up between the hog line and the house.  It is used to prevent the opposition from hitting a stone in the house.  There are two types of guards: corner guards (usually initiated by the team with the hammer) and centre guards (usually initiated by the team without the hammer).
COME AROUND (Draw) - a rock that curls around a guard and ends up behind a guard.
FREEZE (draw) - a draw that finishes in front of and very close to (just touching) another rock.
PEEL (takeout) - a very fast takeout that is most likely used to remove a guard and make sure the rock that is thrown slides out of play.
HIT and STAY (takeout) - a takeout that removes a rock from play and the rock that was thrown remains very close to the original position of the removed rock.
Hit and ROLL or HIT and FLOP (takeout) - a takeout that removes a rock from play and the rock that was thrown slides some distance from the original position of the removed rock.
TAP BACK or RAISE (combo of draw and takeout) - a heavy draw that moves another rock towards the house or further back in the house.  This shot is often played on either your own team's rocks (to have more of your stones count for points or have a well guarded rock on straight ice), or on the other team's shots (to have backing so they have more difficulty removing your rocks).