In curling, a stone must come to rest inside the house (the concentric rings) and be closer to the center button than any of the opponent’s stones to help its team score.

Where the stone must stop

  • The stone must touch or lie within the outer ring of the house; stones completely outside the rings do not count.
  • Only stationary stones in the house are considered when counting points after all 16 stones of an end are thrown.

How that leads to points

  • The team with the closest stone to the button scores points.
  • That team gets one point for each of its stones that is closer to the button than the opponent’s closest stone , up to a maximum of eight points in an end.

Quick‑reference table

Condition Can score?
Stone fully in the house, closer than opponent’s closest Yes – counts as 1 point
Stone in the house but farther than opponent’s closest No – does not count
Stone outside all rings No – not in scoring area
In short: **the stone must stop in the house and be among your team’s stones that are closer to the button than the opponent’s closest stone** to contribute to the score.