Curling World Cup European Zone, the third in the Americas Zone, and a Grand Final in Beijing. In January 2018, the World Curling Federation announced the name of the tournament would be changed to the Curling World Cup, and consist of men's, women's, and mixed doubles events. On July 19, 2018, details about the Curling World Cup were announced, including the host cities, format, qualification rules, and logos for each leg of the event. Curling World Cup matches have eight ends, rather than the standard ten ends. Ties after eight ends will be decided by a shoot-out, with each team throwing a stone
Curling four rocks, known as the "three-rock rule" and "four-rock rule" respectively). This rule, a relatively recent addition to curling, was added in response to a strategy of "peeling" opponents' guard stones (knocking them out of play at an angle that caused the shooter's stone to also roll out of play, leaving no stones on the ice). A team in the lead would often employ this strategy during the game. By knocking all stones out, the opponents could at best score one point (if they had the hammer). Alternatively, the team with the hammer could peel rock after rock, which would