Roller Derby Rules Explained: Jams, Scoring, Blocks and Penalties

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Your first roller derby game can look like chaos: eight skaters in a tight knot, two more sprinting up from behind, one short whistle, a scramble of hips and shoulders, and then someone in a star helmet cover squirts out the front while the crowd roars. A lap later she’s back, slipping past blockers one by one, and then she puts her hands on her hips and four whistles end it. Once you know the roller derby rules, it all clicks, and derby turns out to be one of the most tactical games on wheels.

Everything below comes from The Rules of Flat Track Roller Derby, written by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). The Men’s Roller Derby Association (MRDA) plays a gender-neutral version of the same rules, and the Junior Roller Derby Association (JRDA) plays a JRDA Edition with level-specific addenda, so these basics hold almost everywhere derby is played. For the big picture, start at our roller derby hub.

The game: periods, jams and whistles

• The track: a flat oval marked on the floor to the WFTDA Track Specifications, with a high-contrast boundary that counts as in bounds. Skaters travel counterclockwise.
• Game length: 60 minutes of play in two 30-minute periods, with halftime in between. The period clock keeps running between jams unless someone calls a timeout.
• Jams: the basic unit of play. A jam lasts up to two minutes and starts with one short whistle; four short whistles end it. Teams get 30 seconds between jams to line up.
• Winning: the team with more points at the end wins. A tie adds overtime jams (see below).

Teams, uniforms and captains

Each skater has a unique roster number shown on the back and upper arm, and each team wears jerseys of one base color that contrasts clearly with the other team’s. Teams bring helmet covers that mark the jammer (the “Star”) and the pivot (the “Stripe”). A team may name one Captain, marked with a “C,” who can serve penalties on the team’s behalf, and one Alternate, marked “A,” who can be a non-skating coach. Only the Captain or Alternate can call a team timeout or an official review. A team with five or fewer eligible skaters can be declared to have forfeited.

Jammers, blockers and the pivot

Each team puts up to five skaters on the track per jam:

• The jammer wears the Star and is the only skater who can score. Jammers line up behind the Jammer Line.
• Four blockers line up between the Pivot Line and the Jammer Line. Blockers from both teams form the pack, playing offense (helping their jammer through) and defense (stopping the other jammer) at the same time. A team must always have at least one blocker on the track who isn’t serving a penalty.
• The pivot is a blocker wearing the Stripe. Once per jam, the jammer can hand the Star to the pivot in a legal star pass (both upright, in bounds and in play), and the pivot becomes the jammer.

The pack and the engagement zone

The pack is the largest group of in-bounds blockers, from both teams, skating or standing within 10 feet (3.05 m) of each other. Blockers can only block or assist inside the engagement zone, which reaches 20 feet in front of and behind the pack. A blocker outside it is “out of play” and must get back. If the pack splits into groups and no pack can be defined, all blockers must act at once to re-form it: the rear group speeds up, the front group coasts or brakes. Much of derby strategy is about controlling the pack: slowing it to trap a jammer, or speeding it up to help yours.

How scoring works

At the whistle, both jammers fight through the pack. Their first trip doesn’t score. The first jammer to get past the foremost in-play blocker cleanly earns lead jammer. Each jammer then laps the track, comes back to the pack, and from then on scores one point for each opposing blocker they lap, meaning they’ve earned a pass on that opponent for a second time. A jammer keeps making scoring trips until the jam ends; points for opposing blockers sitting in the penalty box are earned too, once the jammer passes an opponent on the track.

Lead jammer is the big tactical prize: only the lead jammer can call off the jam before two minutes, by repeatedly putting their hands on their hips. A jammer loses lead (or can’t earn it) by committing a penalty or by deliberately taking off the Star.

Overtime

If the score is tied at the end of the game, the second period gets at least one overtime jam. The lineup time before it is 60 seconds, no lead jammer is declared, and both jammers score from their first trip through the pack. Overtime jams continue until one ends with the score no longer tied.

Legal blocks and common penalties

Derby is full contact, within strict limits. You may only start a block to an opponent’s target zones: the chest, the front and sides of the torso, arms, hands, hips, and the front and sides of the legs above mid-thigh. And you may only block with your blocking zones: the torso, arms above the elbow and legs above mid-thigh. That rules out:

• Back blocks: hitting someone in the back.
• High blocks: contact to the head or neck.
• Low blocks: contact to or with the legs below mid-thigh, including tripping.
• Head, elbow and forearm contact: no headbutts, elbows, or blocking with forearms or hands.
• Multiplayer blocks: teammates linking up so an opponent can’t get through between them.
• Cutting the track: using the out-of-bounds area to gain position on someone who’s upright and in bounds.
• Illegal procedures and misconduct: false starts, missing required gear, ignoring officials, disrespectful or abusive behavior.

A legal hit can be very hard and still be legal: the rules casebook is clear that a skater can’t be expelled for legal play. That’s why coached falling and good protective gear matter so much.

The penalty box, fouling out and expulsions

• Serving a penalty: after an official’s verbal cue and hand signal, the skater leaves the track right away and sits in the penalty box for 30 seconds of jam time.
• Box limits: no more than two blockers from the same team can be seated in the box at once; others wait their turn.
• Fouling out: a skater with seven penalties is out for the rest of the game.
• Expulsion: the head referee can remove a skater or team staff member for one act that’s seriously dangerous or unsporting.

Timeouts and official reviews

Each team gets three team timeouts of 60 seconds per game, called between jams. Each team also starts every period with one official review, a formal request to look again at a decision from the previous jam. Officials can call their own timeouts, for example for an injury, and can end a jam early for injury, unsafe play or interference. A timeout starts with four short whistles and ends with a long rolling whistle.

Officials: referees and NSOs

Referees are on skates, wear uniforms that mark them as referees, and are the ones who call and enforce penalties. Non-skating officials (NSOs) keep the game running from off the track: score, jam and period time, penalties assessed and served, and how long each skater has sat in the box. The rules don’t fix a crew size; every game has to staff enough officials to track all that in real time. All communication between skaters, staff and officials has to be respectful. Officiating is also a great way into derby if you’d rather not hit, and leagues train volunteer officials.

Required skates and gear

Skaters must wear quad-style roller skates; inline skates aren’t allowed. During play, every skater wears a helmet, mouthguard, wrist guards, elbow pads and knee pads, and gear can’t be taken off during play. The one exception: a skater seated in the penalty box may take the mouthguard out but must put it back before leaving. The casebook calls the mouthguard “required safety equipment for all Skaters,” and if one flies out and isn’t put back right away, officials can stop the jam and penalize the skater. Our roller derby gear page covers how to choose each piece.

Minimum skills before you play

Skaters on a league’s charter team for WFTDA-sanctioned games must pass the WFTDA Minimum Skills Requirements, a checklist of skating, stopping, falling and contact skills, plus the WFTDA skater rules test. The best-known item is “27 in 5”: at least 27 laps of a regulation track in five minutes. Leagues decide how often skaters are reassessed. In junior derby, JRDA skaters move up its three levels (no contact, light contact, full contact) by passing written and physical assessments. Most adult leagues teach all of it in a beginner program before new skaters scrimmage; see our roller derby training page for how to build toward it.

Rules exist partly to protect the head. If you or a teammate takes a hit and seems dazed, confused or “off,” stop for the day and see a healthcare provider, as the CDC’s HEADS UP program advises; more on our roller derby injuries page. For what a full game day looks like, see our bout day page, and for who writes and plays by these rules, our leagues and associations page. Prefer recreational skating? Our roller skating section has rink and trail etiquette.

Roller derby rules FAQs

How long is a roller derby game?

Sixty minutes of play in two 30-minute periods, under WFTDA rules. With halftime, timeouts and 30 seconds between jams, a game usually fills a good part of an evening.

How do you score points in roller derby?

Only the jammer scores: after a first, non-scoring trip through the pack, one point for each opposing blocker they lap, on every trip until the jam ends.

What does the star on the helmet mean?

The star helmet cover marks the jammer. The striped cover marks the pivot, a blocker who can take over as jammer once per jam through a star pass.

How long is a penalty in roller derby?

Thirty seconds of jam time in the penalty box for each penalty. A skater with seven penalties fouls out of the game.

Where can you hit in roller derby?

To the chest, front and sides of the torso, arms, hands, hips, and front and sides of the legs above mid-thigh, using your torso, arms above the elbow or legs above mid-thigh. No hits to the head, back or lower legs, and no elbows, forearms or tripping.

Can you play roller derby on inline skates?

Not under WFTDA rules, which require quad-style roller skates and don’t allow inline skates.