**** ARC HISTORY ****

In the year 2017, a curling team from Toronto was practicing on their usual rink, when they
were challenged to a game. The challenger, however, was not a traditional team of 4 people.
It was a single person, an inventor with a rocket-powered stone launcher and a remote control.
It was to be a test of man vs. machine; ancient athletics vs. modern technology. The team
hesitantly accepted the challenge, and on February 7, 2017, they lost 17-0, after resigning in
the 5th end.

News of the defeat quickly spread throughout the curling community. The human team accused the
inventor of cheating. One player was quoted as saying, "The stones don't even curl with those
stupid rocket boosters on top. It's not fair, eh!" Further games were held against some of the
top teams in the world, and the inventor went undefeated. The World Curling Federation could
not accept this new form of competition. They concluded that the inventor's devices robbed the
sport of its spirit, and he was henceforth banned from WCF-regulated competition.

The WCF, however, was not the only one interested in the inventor's creation. Amateur builders
and scientists began to follow his lead, and before long there were many more Robotic Curlers
(as the WCF called them) that wanted a piece of the action. And so, on April 12, 2018, the
Association for Robotic Curling was founded.

**** ARC REGULATIONS ****

The rules established by ARC are, in fact, almost identical to those of the WCF. The only
changes and additions that were made are designed around the new capabilities of the stones.

The rink has been cut in half, and all launches are now made from what was the middle of the
rink. In addition, players are not required to launch from the center line. They can position
the launcher anywhere along the back, so long as it is still parallel to the center line.

The free guard zone rule does not apply; that is, a stone within the free guard zone can be
removed from play at any time during the end.

Boosters on the stones themselves are limited in how much fuel they can use: 90ml on the two
side boosters combined, and 60 ml on the back booster.

There can be no front booster or other brake, i.e., the only way a stone can come to a stop is
through contact with another stone or friction from the ice.

Boosters must be disabled when contact with another stone is made.

Distance between the stone and the tee will be digitally calculated. No umpire will be
necessary to determine which stones are closer.

**** HOW TO PLAY ****

For those unfamiliar to the game of curling, it is very similar to the game of shuffleboard.
Two teams (or, in this case, players) alternate coasting stones from one end of an ice rink to
the other, trying to get their stones closest to the "tee" (the center of a blue and red
bullseye). You are allowed to throw your stone into another one to change its position, and
you can even stop a stone short of the "house" (the bullseye) to block the shot of your
opponent. During every "end" (like an inning in baseball), a total of 16 stones are thrown,
the last one called the "hammer shot". Each stone that is closer to the tee than any stone of
the opponent is then awarded 1 point. So, the maximum amount of points that can be scored in a
single end is 8, and only one team gets the points. The team that loses an end gets the hammer
shot for the next. After 10 ends (or 8 in some leagues), the highest scoring team is the
winner! If the two teams are tied, one more end is played to determine the winner.

**** CONTROLS ****

When preparing to launch a stone:

Up Arrow - Move stone position up
Down Arrow - Move stone position down
Space - Select speed and launch!

When stone is in motion:

Up Arrow - Fire top booster
Down Arrow - Fire bottom booster
Left Arrow - Fire back booster
