*Before you read anything else, know that I agree with the change and actually love defensive derby. I just don’t feel like the impact of this change is being talked about enough.

Jammer Lap Point R.I.P. ⚰️⚰️⚰️

The Jammer Lap Point is now officially dead, with the WFTDA releasing the rules update yesterday removing it from the rule set. Code Adam’s 18 min read “Death to the Jammer Lap Point” from July of this year was influential in the change and it is a great breakdown of why the jammer lap point was nearly impossible to track. That work was read by many WFTDA officials before it was released publicly, and it confirmed the experiences of the officiating community who have been near unanimous in their support of the removal of the JLP and the mental bandwidth which will be freed up now while officiating.

To my knowledge, the change was not one tested by WFTDA, with the change hinging on the obvious data which illustrated that the JLP was not and could not ever be consistently tracked. The argument made by folks like Code Adam above called for an outright removal, instead of any attempts to simplify JLP scoring, “A lot of people around the community have said they wish Jammer Points were simpler to score, but it is not possible to simplify them further while keeping the same core principles. However we adjust the rules for Jammer Points, we are still expecting referees and spectators to always know where both jammers are relative to one another if they can hope to know when Jammer Points occur. This makes scoring confusing and the sport less accessible than it should be.”

The swift movement of this rule change, and its support from officials, has obscured some of its effects on gameplay though. Many people are simply relying on data sets from 5 point scoring and removing the jammer lap point to come to their conclusions. 4 point scoring though, and specifically no scoring against jammers, opens up completely new gameplay strategies which make that 5 point data all but obsolete.

Since the establishment and release of the current WFTDA Ranking system in February 28, 2013, there have been few changes to the scoring system; the removal of 1.5 tournament game weights, the introduction of the 2014 Strength Factor Challenge Program and the introduction of the decay factor in 2016. All of these changes have had significant impact on the rankings and have been largely positive changes used to make the rankings system more responsive and more equal for all opponents while allowing for more growth. None of these changes will have the same gameplay impact though as changing the scoring system in every single WFTDA game.

The 2013 Ranking Algorithm

Did you know that the WFTDA member leagues used to vote on rankings? To understand the impact this change in scoring will have on gameplay you really have to track back to the introduction of the 2013 rankings system. Developed in part by a committee that included Bonnie Thunders and OMG WTF, the 2013 system allowed for an algorithm based rankings system which could grow and which allowed for regional scarcity in opponents — you could play games beyond just win-loss. The weight system, along with total points %, encouraged 60 minute competitive play. The team that perfected this was Gotham, rattling off 37 straight sanctioned wins after the release of the scoring system, including massive playoff wins of 590–29 over Queen City, 519–27 over Kansas City and 545–21 over OVKD. “Slow derby” had already begun, but it was accelerated by this recognition — skilled teams could score MORE and deny scoring against with a slower pace of play, clockwise pack manipulation and braced defensive formations. The argument of what effect this has had on the sport and its fans will probably never end, but teams were responding to what the scoring and ranking system incentivized.

For reference, the 2012 WFTDA Championship game

The 2013 WFTDA Championship Game

Very few people would have foreseen the gameplay changes that came out of moving from a voting ranking system to this current algorithm back in 2013. The changes across 2012–2013 themselves are pretty vast, even if that 2013 game still looks almost unrecognizable.

Since 5 point scoring data won’t really help us to understand changes to gameplay, we can only really theorize about the changes yet to come. However, making it harder for skilled teams to score means it is far more likely that teams will develop more strategies to deny another team the ability to score, aka more defense and more point denial.

The biggest change with 4 point scoring and defensive play is that a jammer can now effectively become a 5th blocker, who can go anywhere on the track, without risk of being scored on. Again, the change was not tested so we don’t have anything to rely on for 4 point scoring, however, we do have a very recent example of a team using extreme defensive jamming strategies even within 5 point scoring — Tiger Bay at the European Continental Cup. This may give us some insight into how this change to scoring will influence changes to game play.

Tiger Bay in Telford 🐯

Tiger Bay’s defensive jamming at the ECC was very much part of the transition of London Brawling/Team England blocker Kid Block into their jammer rotation. Tiger Bay needed jammer depth and Kid is a great jammer, but her instincts were still very much suited to blocking. The interesting thing about Tiger Bay is that they made defensive jamming a default beyond just Kid Block — Steph, Plant, Billie and Angie all would grab the brace or join the wall to play defense during opposing scoring passes. I’ve never seen a team commit this hard to defensive jamming and all of their defensive jamming defaults would be incentivized even more if their jammers could not be scored on.

Kid Block’s Ridiculous Catch on Sara Gilbert

Steph Leading the Drawback and Joining the Tripod

Steph Grabs the Brace

Angie Drops to Stay Defense

All of these options above should become more prevalent and will be incentivized within the new scoring system. It will take time, and most likely a top 6 team adopting them for them to really pollinate (maybe Code Adam’s Arch Rival?), but the base is already there. This strategy was effective for Tiger Bay that weekend in Telford, even with the jammer as a point, because it was disruptive and no team they played was prepared to face it. Teams could adjust, but even those adjustments wouldn’t outweigh the benefit of using your jammer as a 5th blocker who cannot be scored on.

Also, the examples above are all in non lead scenarios, but defensive jamming will be incentivized in both lead and non lead scenarios — lead jammers re-swallowing opposing jammers out of the pack will be more frequent as will tired lead jammers joining the defense or leading drawbacks in order to run penalty time down to clear their penalty box, etc.

Which leads to the weakest point against removing the JLP. Many people focused on the inability of spectators to understand gameplay and scoring with the jammer lap point. I expect it will likewise be hard to explain jammers, star in hand, fully dropping to play defense, grabbing braces, and leading drawbacks to try and shut jams down. Roller derby will always evolve along with strategies that the scoring system provides an incentive for. The gap between that and what is easy to grasp as a spectator, will most likely always be present to an extent and shouldn’t lead rule changes.

Overall, this is the biggest scoring system change since the advent of our current ranking system and skaters, fans and everyone else should be prepared to see A LOT more focus on incorporating jammers into defensive strategies. The death of the jammer lap point is the birth of the 5th blocker hybrid — upgrading jammers to an exalted defensive status. Hope you like defense!!!

Like what we do? Consider chipping in a few bucks.