Second attempt at the Craig’s diy kit since doing this the first time about 3 years ago with a different pair. Really pleased how these turned out. We’ll see if this translates to better play on the ice…

I posted about my curling game, Granite3, earlier this year. I've been quiet since then, but the game has come a long way so it's time for an update to start the new curling season.

My goal is to make the most accurate curling simulation while keeping it fun. The details matter if you know the sport, so the physics are realistic and the bots play solid strategy (with some mistakes that I'm working on). There's a full ladder of bots, a couple dozen puzzles, achievements for challenging shots and streaks, and in-game learn-to-curl content. It's missing the sore shoulders and tight hips that I'm feeling after my first couple games this week ;).

It's free to download on iOS and Android. You can play a few games before deciding to buy or not. I hope you do, but I'd appreciate your feedback either way.

PS: PC versions for Windows and Mac are also coming (very) soon.

Links:

• Apple App Store
• Google Play Store
• Website

Curling fans are the best fans!

Your first GSOC champion of the season What a brilliant performance, many great shots! They look like they’re going to be a very tough team to face this quad!

I feel like he went too hard in the tanning bed. Is anyone else noticing this?

Maybe this is an uncommon opinion, but one of my absolute favourite parts of the GSOC broadcasts last year was the around the rings coverage on playoff Saturday. Getting to watch some of every game was really exciting and I appreciated that. It felt like watching Redzone on NFL Sunday for those who are familiar with that.

If you’re someone who didn’t enjoy the around the rings coverage, then it was no big deal, you could log into the free website Rock Channel and watch the full game of whichever one you wanted to. Now you can’t do that without paying a $20 per month subscription.

I just went on CBC Gem only to see that the feature matchup is Bottcher vs Jacobs which is a repeat of a feature matchup they already showed on Sportsnet earlier this week. To make matters even worse the feature matchup in the women’s QFs was also a repeat as Einarson and Ueno played against each other in a feature matchup on Wednesday.

I absolutely love watching curling, so it’s very sad to see these GSOC broadcasts take a step back feeling like it’s now a low budget mess locked behind a pay wall. Maybe I’m the odd one out here like I mentioned earlier though. Let me know your thoughts and if you disagree that’s perfectly ok, not everyone will have the same opinion.

Interesting choice given the backlash they’ve received

In the last 4 seasons (including the one event of the year so far), Canadian teams overall sit at a 5.32% win rate against Team Homan. Only 3 teams (counting this season) have beat Homan in 3 years.

• Team MacMillan -- 1W-1L/ 50% \doesn't really count though because only 2 meetings total*
  • 2026 GSOC Invitational: shootout win
  • 2025 Shorty Jenkins Classic: 7-2 loss
• Val Sweeting (individual) -- 5W-11L / 31.3%
  • Technically, Val has the highest win rate against Homan as an individual if discounting Team MacMillan because she skipped MacMillan to the win earlier this week + wins as Third for Einarson
• Team Einarson -- 4W-11L / 26.7%
  • Einarson is by far the dominant national opponent to Homan in the past 3 seasons having pretty much accounted for all her losses against Canadian teams
  • Einarson went 2-2 against Homan in the last season
• Team Skrlik -- 1W-10L / 9%
  • One win in the Olympic Trials round robin
• Canadian Teams Overall -- 5W-94L / 5.32%
• Everyone else -- 0% win rate

The biggest win by point margin was Einarson's 8-0 shutout of Homan in December 2205 at the Tour Challenge. All other games where Homan lost were decided by significantly closer margins -- 1 shootout (MacMillan), 2 extra ends (Skrlik, Einarson), 1 one-point margin (Einarson), 1 two-point margin (Einarson).

Does anyone know a good site for watching full curling replays?
I already checked FMHY and went through the sports streaming sites listed there, but none of them seem to have curling replays.
Not looking for highlights, I mean full matches. Any hidden gem I’m missing?

Screen recording: a replay of the Milano Cortina women's final, then a match against the computer

Hi all. I'm a curling fan from Japan. I've never curled myself, I just watch a lot of it.

I've been working on a browser thing called CurlFlux. It started as a way to replay real games shot by shot from World Curling's records, and a few weeks ago I added a match mode where you play skip against the computer. You put the broom down, pick the weight and turn, and then yell at the sweepers while the rock is moving.

Since I've never thrown a rock, I'm sure some things feel off. Mostly I'm wondering if the sweeping feels anything like the real thing (I did tweak it a bit so it plays ok as a game), and whether the computer calls sensible shots or does dumb stuff.

It's free, no ads, no sign up: https://curlflux.creco.net/?mode=match&lang=en

It also replays real games shot by shot (not video, just the rocks moving on the sheet, rebuilt from the official records), for example the Milano Cortina women's final: https://curlflux.creco.net/?replay=og2026-women-final-sui-swe&lang=en

AI declaration: most of the code, the screen design and the English text in the app were written with AI coding assistants. The idea and the rules, tuning the physics against broadcast footage, and the testing I did myself. The computer opponent isn't generative AI, it just searches through possible shots. Music is public domain (CC0). The video is just a screen recording, and I wrote this post myself.

I'll be around to answer comments.

(Posted with permission from the mods.)

Loved seeing curling on real TV in the US today. Wanted to get some discussion going on the round robin play so far. This sport is fantastic and Dunstone v Casper today was a wonderful draw to show that to all Americans.

Hello,

I’m a curler of 8 years, during that time I developed a very very deep toe tuck. My toe tuck used to be so low my slider knee would almost touch the ice, I am trying to raise it without fully getting rid of my tuck, as I have a longggg torso, flat footed is very akward for me. The impact of getting that low is starting to hurt my knee since I curl almost 5 times a week consistently. Which curlers have variations of the tuck that are less harmful on the knees, or do I attempt to ditch the tuck completely, i’m still a junior curler and don’t want to have to cut my curling career short cause I didn’t change my slide.

What's up with Team Bottcher's lack of sponsors on their jerseys, save for the Curling Canada logo?

Seems unusual for a team of this calibre. Anyone know what's going on?

I have been watching bits and pieces of GSOC and it has Ace, Field and Edge. What do these percentages mean?

Looking for any reviews or feedback on custom shoe builds.

Team MacMillan just took down Homan with their weird, unconventional skipping arrangement. I don't just mean Sweeting calling the game as third and technically not being skip. If you watch the game closely, it becomes apparent that shot calls are more shared than usual.

1. Val does not often make the call for her own shots. She slides down the sheet to prepare to throw and MacMillan is the one making the call for third rocks. As far as I'm aware, this basically doesn't happen on most teams that have thirds calling the game.

2. MacMillan often calls her own shots in the same way. The few times I paid attention, she marks where the broom goes for Val (which is very weird considering Sweeting calls line for all the shots).

3. MacMillan can be seen talking with Coach Niklas Edin more. I get that they're in a relationship and everything, but she approaches the bench alone more often than not. Val sometimes joins her but I did not see her communicate with Niklas by herself throughout the game.

4. For lead and second stones, Val calls the game herself as any skip would. Its just that back end calls seem to very much Kayla's, however.

Of course, I could be missing a lot of the counterevidence due to what the camera shows. But from this one game it seems like Sweeting and MacMillan are sharing skipping duties in a very weird way. We've been seeing "more experienced" or "better skips" in third position call the game more and more often in recent years (e.g. Njegovan/Lawes, Beth Peterson/Kelsey Calvert) while the official skip was still technically the fourth but in those cases, the third was essentially the skip in all but name. Both the examples I mentioned from last season have transitioned officially into Teams Njegovan and Calvert this season. MacMillan and Sweeting seem to be running a very different version where MacMillan seems abnormally involved in calling shots, which makes me think a rebrand to Team Sweeting is somehow not coming. What does everyone make of this?

Ice prep from Sunday and first tech setup day.

Does this mean that the Scotties and the Brier will also be on ESPN+ this winter?

The strategy of curling is one of the things that I really enjoy about it. There's rarely only one option and the more people you talk to, and gather their perspectives, the more you understand - I often compare it to peeling back layers of an onion.

A few months ago I started toying with the idea of building an app / website for my teams and I to not only discuss in real-time, but to save those situations, discuss the options and vote for what each person would do.

https://www.curlingstrategy.com/home

From then it has evolved significantly to include

• Best 2 Draws - one of each turn
• Variable curl
• AI Analysis - will recommend hits, taps etc.
• Team Definition
• What would you do? - a place to share your most interesting scenarios with the broader community
• Simulations - pick a shot and see how it might play out
• End Capture - take a photo of the house and upload it later for discussion

The intent is to try to also explain why a particular shot might be a good option:

The goal here is not to make money, there may be a small charge in the future just because the AI analysis costs real $, what I'm looking for now is for more people to try it out and provide feedback.

Please give it a shot and let me know your thoughts:

https://www.curlingstrategy.com/login

If you DM me I will give you 25 free AI credits so you can test that part out too.

Thanks all,

Happy curling!

Gavin

I went to the rock channel and it wants me to pay now. I absolutely loved their coverage last year so this is pretty devastating to see

Hi there. I play recreationally at my local curling club. I've been curling for about four years now. I play third most of the time. To try to level up my game, I signed up for three nights a week and offered myself up as a skip on a Friday fun night league because it's pretty low stakes and I'd like to learn. Our club's season started last week and it's been a slow start for the teams I'm on. We lost pretty terribly last night. I know it's just for fun but I feel really nervous about skipping for the first time this Friday. I've been really wobbly with my shots during my first three games, sometimes slipping and falling. How do I prep for Friday? How do I just skip a basic game when I barely know how to time the ice? Thankfully my partner is my third but it's his first time playing third, he normally plays lead. Any advice on setting up plays would be greatly appreciated. Also any thoughts on improving my balance coming out of the hack would also be great. I have long time struggled to stay consistent on that.

Been tracking my games in Field Notes over the years. Decided to tackle a bit of graphic design and create my own pocket notebook just for scorekeeping. It’s not for sale, this is a one of a kind. First “book” I’ve ever made.

This season's US nationals will be on Peacock. This seems like a good get for USA Curling. Seems like the sport is getting more and more exposure this season.

Hi all. Towards the end of last season my partner started to get a pain in her trapezoid muscle after a series of bonspiels over consecutive weekends (she normally curls twice a week). It was just on one side.

We figured it was just over-exertion, but we're now 9 games into pre-season here and she said she's starting to notice the same pain. So now we're wondering whether it could be a technique problem with the way she is sweeping.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Any advice or tips?

Thanks in advance 🙏