Curling (Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for Wii)

Curling is an Event that appears in the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. The objective of the event is to score as may points as possible by throwing stones into the house, with the event taking place in the Vancouver Olympic Centre. Yoshi, Tails, Amy and Silver appear taking place in this event in the game's opening.

Gameplay
In this event, the player competes in a knockout tournament, where they first compete in an initial qualifying round, and will proceed to the final if they win it, or be knocked out if they lose. In this event, the player plays a set number of ends, with each team throwing four stones in each end, and the starting team alternating each end. To perform a throw, the player starts by deciding the direction of the throw. The player can move their aim to the left and right by pointing the controller in the desired direction or by pressing left and right on, and can also zoom in and out on the house by pressing up and down on. Once the player is happy with the direction of their shot, they can press to move onto their throw. The player throws their stone by swinging their remote upwards, and can perform practice swings that indicate the power of their throw before making their final throw. The speed of the stone is affected by how hard the player swings when throwing it. To perform their actual throw, the player must press before swinging the Wii Remote upwards. Once the character begins sliding with the stone, the player can add spin to the throw by tilting the Wii Remote in the direction that they would like the stone to be thrown. The more the remote is tilted, the more spin in that direction the stone will gain, with the final amount of spin decided when the stone passes over the hog line. Once the stone has been thrown, the player can also affect the speed of the stone by sweeping, which is done by swinging the Wii Remote up and down. The faster the player swings, the more the characters will sweep and the faster the stone will travel. After each throw, which stones are currently scoring are shown, though the final score is not decided until both sides have thrown all four stones. After each throw, the characters will swap positions, and will rotate around all four during each end. Points are scored based on how many stones the team with the stone closest to the center of the house have anywhere within the house. One point is scored for each of the closest team's stones in the house, and no points are scored for stones outside of the house or stones in the house belonging to the other team. The team with the most stones in the house after all of the ends wins the match.

In this event, the number of ends played can be set to 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10.

Rules

 * In Curling, teams of four players each throw stones across the ice and compete for the most points.
 * The object of the event is to throw stones into the house, a red and blue circle at the end of the rink.
 * Points are awarded for getting your stones closer to the center of the house than your opponent's.
 * Stones that miss the house, or stones that are pushed out of the house do not earn points.
 * In this case, because only the red team's stone is in the house, the red team earns 2 points.
 * If the yellow team succeeds in throwing their stone closer to the center of the house at this point, the yellow team earns 1 point.
 * In this example, the yellow team's stone is closer to the center of the house, so the red team earns 0 points.
 * Scoring takes place after all four players have thrown their stones, based on who was closest to the house's center for that round, or "end".
 * After a set number of ends are played, the team with the highest score is declared the winner.

Controls

 * The Skip decides which direction the stone should be thrown.
 * As the Skip, point at the screen to move the arrow mark in the direction you'd like the stone to be thrown.
 * On the thrower's turn, you can swing the Wii Remote as if bowling without pressing any buttons to take a practice swing.
 * Once you're ready, hold to take up the throwing position.
 * Now swing the Wii Remote in a bowling gesture once again to swing and release the stone.
 * Twist the Wii Remote left and right while the character is sliding along with the stone to determine how much spin to add to the throw.
 * The stone will curve based on how much the Wii Remote was twisted at the point it crosses the red line.
 * Shake the Wii Remote to sweep once the stone has been thrown. The faster you shake, the harder the character will sweep.
 * Sweep as hard as you can by shaking the Wii remote vigorously when you want to make the stone travel further.
 * Stop shaking the Wii Remote when you want the stone to slow down.

Tips

 * Going last is most advantageous in curling, as you can push your opponent's stones out of the house and score.
 * When going first, it's important to throw your stone into a spot that will make it difficult for your rivals to score.
 * Another key strategy is the guard.
 * Guarding is the practice of throwing subsequent stones in a way that will protect your previous stone.
 * Consider this example. A second stone stand in front of the first, acting as a shield.
 * In order to dislodge the center stone, opponents will have to go around the guard stone, making for a more difficult shot.
 * Learn to use stones both offensively and defensively, an you'll bring your Curling game to a whole new level!