Hammer (last stone) in curling

The most important stone of the end

In curling the teams play alternately. Whoever plays the last stone of an end has the hammer. They can respond to everything that happened before: knock an opposing stone out of the house (takeout) or place their stone precisely in the centre (draw). Statistically, the team with the hammer scores far more often.

Who gets the hammer?

• In the first end: depending on the competition, by coin toss or by last stone draw (LSD): before the game, each team plays stones as close to the centre as possible and the better team gets the hammer.
• After that: the hammer passes to the team that did not score. So whoever scores gives up the advantage.
• Blank end: if no stone is in the house after an end (0–0), the team with the hammer keeps it.

Tactics around the hammer

With the hammer, a team wants to score at least two points. Just one point is often seen as a minor failure because the hammer then goes to the opponent. That is why teams with the hammer sometimes deliberately play a blank end: they clear the house, score zero and keep the hammer for a better end.

The team without the hammer, by contrast, tries to force the opponent to take a single point or even to steal, i.e. to score itself even though the opponent has the last stone. To do this it places guards in front of the house early on, behind which it can hide its own stones.

The hammer in mixed doubles

Mixed doubles has a special feature: the team that did not score in the previous end may choose how the pre-placed stones are positioned, and can thereby influence hammer or positional advantage. In addition, each team may use the power play once per game, in which the pre-placed stones are set off to the side.

A worked example

Team A has the hammer in the fifth end and trails 2–3. If A scores two points, it leads 4–3 and the hammer passes to team B. If A scores only one point, it is 3–3 and B has the hammer – a bad trade. That is why in such situations A sometimes prefers to clear the house and play a blank end: it stays 2–3, but A keeps the hammer for the next end.

Towards the end of a game the hammer becomes even more important. With the hammer in the last end, a single point is enough to win if the scores are level. Teams therefore plan from the middle of the game who should have the last stone in the final end.

Extra end

If the score is tied after the last regular end, an extra end follows. The hammer belongs to the team that did not score in the last end. A blank end is not possible in an extra end, because play continues until one team scores.