The Rules
of Roller Derby

We play by the rule set compiled by the Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Association. A complete rule set can be viewed at the WFTDA official rules website, but we'll summarise the rules below.

Roller derby is played on a flat track consisting of two circular turns connected by two straightways.  Two teams of five play the game within the track in a counter-clockwise direction. 

Each team fields four blockers and a jammer, who are the point scorers. The objective of the game is for each team's jammer to get pass players on the opposing team.

Each time they pass an opposing player's hips, a point is scored.

The game is players in two periods, divided into smaller periods called a jam, which can last up to two minutes.

Jammers line up behind the jam line and the remaining players set up between the jam line and a pivot line in a formation known as a pack. On the whistle, the jammers race to pass through the pack once to establish a 'lead jammer' position on their first lap (no points are scored). On their second and subsequent laps, points are scored for each player on the opposing team the jammer passes.

Who's Who?

The Jammer

The jammer is your team's designated point scorer. Their job is to push, dodge and race their way through the pack of blockers and start scoring points.

The tactical goal of the game is to stop the opposing team's jammer, and get your jammer out of the pack to score points.

Blockers

Blockers are the mainstay of the team, and it is their job to stop the opposing jammer from scoring points. This is most commonly done by building what is commonly known as a 'wall' - a formation of between two to four blockers working together to slow down or knock the opposing jammer off the flat-track.

The Pivot

A pivot is a special type of blocker. They are allowed to start right on the pivot line for tactical gain, but the main benefit conferred to the pivot is that they may take the role of the jammer if they cannot break through the opposing team. 'Passing the star' confers the jammer's role onto the pivot if the need arises.

The initial race to break out of the pack at the start determines what is called 'lead jammer' status. No points are scored in the initial pass, but the lead jammer reserves the right to call off the mini-period known as a jam. This means a jam can can last anywhere between three seconds to two minutes, and 'calling off the jam' is a tactical play that your lead jammer can use to deny the other team points.

Since a jammer scores by passing by the opposing team, a leap over the apex curve at the turn can land your team up to five points in a few seconds - they are also huge crowd pleasers!

As you can expect with roller derby being a full contact sport, penalties happen. To this end, a game of roller derby has seven referees making sure the action doesn't escalate into serious injury.

Penalties include cutting back onto the track in front of another player after being knocked off, hitting other players using your forearms, and hitting players below the knee, in the back and above the neck.

Players issued a penalty must sit for 30 seconds before being released, which makes penalty management one of the important issues in the game.

Referees

Referees make sure that roller derby is played safely by issuing penalties when players break the rules. 

There are seven referees officiating a game, each watching a different aspect of the pack around the track, like the Jam Referee who tracks jammers on their scoring passes or the Outside Pack Referee who are watching for penalty violations around the outside of the flat-track.

The full rules of roller derby are complex, and making sure the rules are followed at 20 miles per hour is a mentally and physically demanding job.

Non-Skating Officials

Officials who don't referee are called Non-Skating Officials, better known as NSOs.

NSOs track and officiate the game in minute detail - tracking and timing penalties, recording scores on a jam by jam basis and announcing are examples of the enormous amount of work that goes into making sure the game runs smoothly, and producing a full set of statistics after each game.