It's been said that, for the newcomer or non-participant of curling, the hardest thing about the game of curling is reading the scoreboard!

We're going to give you a (hopefully) simple explanation of a curling scoreboard.

Things to remember about scoring in curling:

- Only one team can score in each end
- The score can be from zero to eight points (maximum number of rocks per team) per end
- If a team scores in an end, that team delivers the first stone in the next end - they lose the hammer
- A scoreless end is called a 'blank end', the team that had the hammer in a blank end retains the hammer in the next end

How to read the scoreboard

This is a sample scoreboard and a description on how to read it - keep in mind the simple rules listed above!

- The colored blocks on the left end are the team colors, often represented as the handle color on the stones
- The numbers running to the right of each team color block represent the ends that that team scored, these are added to the scoreboard at the completion of each end
- The row of red numbers between the team rows is the running score, used by both teams - these numbers are permanent and do not change
- The bottom row, marked 'blank' represents ends with no score by either team

1st End: The BLUE team scores 2 (the '1' in the blue row represents the end, it is placed over the total points for the team at the completion of the 1st end). The score after the 1st end is BLUE=2, YELLOW=0

2nd End: The YELLOW team scores 1 (the '2' in the yellow row represents the end, it is placed beneath the total points for the team at the completion of the 2nd end). The score after the 2nd end is BLUE=2, YELLOW=1

3rd End: The BLUE team scores 1 (the '3' in the blue row represents the end, it is placed above the total points for the team at the completion of the 3rd end - 2 points in the 1st end plus 1 point in the 3rd end equals 3 total points for the blue team). The score after the 3rd end is BLUE=3, YELLOW=1

4th End: The YELLOW team scores 1 (the '4' in the yellow row represents the end, it is placed below the total points for the team at the completion of the 4th end - 1 point in the 2nd end plus 1 point in the 4th end equals 2 total points for the yellow team). The score after the 4th end is BLUE=3, YELLOW=2

5th End: The YELLOW team steals and scores 2 (the '5' in the yellow row represents the end, it is placed below the total points for the team at the completion of the 5th end - 2 points after the 4th end plus 2 points equals 4 total points for the yellow team). The score after the 5th end is BLUE=3, YELLOW=4

6th End: Neither team scored in this end (the '6' is placed on the row marked for blank ends). The score after the 6th end is BLUE=3, YELLOW-4

7th End: The BLUE team scores 2 (the '7' in the blue row represents the end, it is placed above the total points for the team at the completion of the 7th end - 3 points after the 3rd end plus 2 points equals 5 total points for the blue team). The score after the 7th end is BLUE=5, YELLOW=4

8th End: The YELLOW team scores 2 (the '8' in the yellow row represents the end, it is placed below the total points for the team at the completion of the 8th end - 4 points after the 5th end plus 2 equals 6 total points for the yellow team). The score after the 8th end is BLUE=5, YELLOW=6

This was an 8-end game, therefore the yellow team won 6-5.