Mixed doubles
Two players, five stones, eight ends, and an end that has already started before anybody throws. The fastest-growing form of curling, and the one that behaves least like the rest of it.
Last updated 2026-08-18
- 2players, one of each gender
- 5stones per team per end
- 8ends
- 22minutes of thinking time each
The shape of the game#
A mixed doubles team is two people. They throw five stones each end rather than eight, over eight ends rather than ten, with about half the thinking time. No alternates are allowed at all: if a player cannot continue, the team forfeits.
The delivery order within an end is fixed and slightly odd. Whichever player throws the team's first stone of an end must also throw its last; the other player throws the second, third and fourth. Which of the two takes the first-and-last role can change from end to end. And while one is throwing, the other may be anywhere on the sheet — so the same person is delivering, calling the line and then sprinting to sweep their own stone, which is a large part of why the format looks so much busier than team curling.
The stones that are already there#
This is the change that makes it a different game. Before every end begins, two stones are placed on the ice — one belonging to each team — and they count for scoring like any other stone.
The rulebook is precise about where they go:
- Position A — bisected by the centre line, immediately in front of or behind one of three marks: the midpoint between the hog line and the top of the house, or three feet either side of that midpoint. Which of the three is used is decided per sheet before the pre-game practice, based on the ice, and then stays fixed for the whole game.
- Position B — bisected by the centre line, in the back of the four-foot circle, with the back edge of the stone aligned to the back edge of the four-foot.
One team places its stone in A or B; the opponent's stone goes in whichever is left. The consequences follow immediately: the team whose stone is in front, at A, throws first in that end, and the team sitting in the house at B throws second — and therefore has last stone.
Every end starts with a guard already up and a stone already counting. There is no phase of the end where the sheet is empty and the correct play is to wait. Blank ends are rare, big ends are common, and a two-point deficit is nothing.
The power play#
Once per game, the team with the placement choice may abandon the centre arrangement entirely and put both stones out to one side.
The in-house stone — which belongs to the team with last stone that end — is placed with its back edge touching the tee line, at the point where the eight-foot and twelve-foot circles meet. The guard goes to the same side, at the same distance down the sheet that was fixed for the centre guards.
What it buys is an open middle. With nothing on the centre line, there is nothing for the opposition to hide behind and nothing blocking a run at the four-foot, so a team with the hammer that needs two or three points has a much clearer route to them. It is used almost exclusively by the team that is behind, and usually late.
Two constraints: once per game per team, and never in an extra end.
Who chooses, and who throws#
The placement choice#
| Situation | Who chooses the placement in the next end |
|---|---|
| First end | The team with the lesser last stone draw distance. |
| A team scored | The team that did not score. |
| Nobody scored | The team that threw the first stone in that end. |
| Blanked because a measure came out equal | Unchanged — whoever had the choice keeps it. |
Note that having the choice is not the same as having the hammer. The team with the choice will usually put its own stone at B, in the house, which gives it last stone — but it may prefer A, and that is a real decision rather than a formality.
The stronger free guard zone#
Mixed doubles has its own version of the guard protection, and it is much broader than the team game's:
If, prior to the delivery of the fourth stone of an end, a delivered stone causes either directly or indirectly, any previous delivered or placed stone to be moved to an out-of-play position, the delivered stone shall be removed from play and any displaced stone(s) shall be replaced.
Read that carefully: any stone, not just opposition stones, and not just stones in the free guard zone. Nothing at all can be removed from the sheet until the fourth stone of the end. In exchange, the window is much shorter. The no-tick rule does not apply here at all.
Every difference, in one table#
| Team curling | Mixed doubles | |
|---|---|---|
| Players | Four | Two — one male, one female |
| Alternates | One may be registered | None. Both players play the whole game or the team forfeits. |
| Stones per team per end | Eight | Five, of which two are placed rather than thrown |
| Ends | Ten (eight in many events) | Eight |
| Thinking time | 38 min (ten ends) | 22 min |
| Extra end thinking time | 4 min 30 s | 3 min |
| Break between ends | 1 minute | 1 minute plus 30 seconds for placing the stones |
| Halfway break | After the fifth end | After the fourth |
| Guard protection | Opposition stones in the FGZ, until the sixth stone | Every stone anywhere, until the fourth stone |
| No-tick rule | Applies | Does not apply |
| Sweeping | Any of the four in front of the tee line; one behind it | Either or both players, including their own delivered stone |
| First stone of an end | Alternates as usual | Whoever throws it must also throw the last one |
Why it caught on#
Mixed doubles held its first world championship in 2008 and was in the Olympics ten years later, which is a remarkably fast rise for a discipline in a sport five hundred years old. Four reasons, in rough order of importance:
- Two people is a much easier thing to organise than four. Most curling teams die of scheduling rather than of losing.
- It fits a broadcast slot. Eight ends and 22 minutes of thinking time each puts a game comfortably inside two hours, which team curling does not reliably do.
- It is a better watch for someone who does not know the sport. Pre-placed stones mean action from the first throw and very few blanks.
- Ice time goes further. A club can run twice as many players over the same sheets — which matters more than anything else on this list to the clubs actually running the sport. See running a club.
The Olympic record so far is short and not what anybody expected: Canada in 2018, Italy in 2022 — Italy's first curling medal of any colour — and Sweden in 2026. See curling at the Olympics.
Sources#
- Primary The Rules of Curling, R17: Mixed Doubles Curling World Curling, 2025The placement geometry, the power play, the delivery order, the four-stone protection rule and the placement-choice sequence, all as quoted above. Timing figures are from C6.
- Mixed doubles curling, explained CBC SportsA clear plain-language walkthrough, useful alongside the rulebook.