Q and A

Q: Greenville, SC "so, can you play the game without the sweepers? Say, just two on two and just throw? Are ther variations recognized?"

A:  Sweepers are not required but certainly give a team an advantage as they help to control the trajectory of a thrown stone.   Recreationally, people play all kinds of variations of the game, including 2 on 2, no sweeping, etc.  Competitively, there is another version of the game: Mixed Doubles. In this variant, the game begins with one stone in play for each team,  and each male/female team throws 5 stones.  Mixed doubles contests tend to end up with many rocks in play and thus very exciting.  It doesn't take as long to play as a regualtion game, and in some ways is a "made for tv" version of curling. Don't be surprised if Mixed Doubles ends up being a medal event one day.

On a side note, I coached in the first ever Mixed Doubles US National Championship.  My team lost...clearly due to poor coaching.