In curling, shot rock is the stone that is currently closest to the center of the house (the button) and therefore counts as scoring first for that moment in the end.

Quick Scoop: What “shot rock” means

  • It’s the rock that is nearest the button of all stones in the rings.
  • People say “you’re shot” or “we have shot rock” to mean our team currently lies first.
  • The next closest stones are called second shot , third shot , and so on.
  • Shot rock can belong to either team; it changes whenever a new stone ends up closer to the button.

If Team A has a stone just biting the button and Team B curls a stone slightly closer in front of it, Team B’s stone becomes the new shot rock for the rest of that moment in the end.

At the end of the end, the scoring starts with the shot rock and counts only stones of the scoring team that are closer to the button than the opponent’s nearest stone.

TL;DR: When you hear curlers yelling about “shot rock,” they’re talking about which specific stone is currently scoring first in the house.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.