How do you play fencing?

Answer 1

A Fencing Bout Starts In The Following Order: . Two Fencers Who Fence The Same Weapon Hook Up On A Strip With A Box That Transmits Electricity To A Scoring Machine Which Turns One Light Red And One Green [Whatever]In Foil And Saber the Box May Turn A Light Whitish Color. . The Two Fencers Take There Weapons And Have Them Tested By The Judge of The Bout Then The Two Fencers Salut And Test Weapons In The Following Ways . Epee-Fencers Test Bellguards By Hitting The Bellguard With The Tip Of The Blade If A Red or Green Light Goes Off The Weapon Is Broken And Must be Prepared You Want To look For The Yellow, Whitish Light. . Foil-In Foil The Point Is To Hit The Lame[The Silver Part] To Test Touch The Tip Of The Blade To The Lame You Are Looking For A Red or Green Depending Which Light You Have And Which Side Of The Strip Your On. . Saber-In Saber Touch The Blade On The Saber Mask Just Like In Foil You Are Looking For A Red Or Green Light. [If A Weapon Of Eqipment Piece Is Defective Then It Is A Yellow Card[Warning Card] ] . The Fencers Then Come Unguard After Coming To The UnGuard Line And Wait For The Judges Word "Fence", "Alle", [Whatever]. . The Fencers Then Begin To Fence!

Answer 2

Fencing is a competition between two individuals with swords, performed on a 14 meter long strip. Upon hitting the valid target area with the appropriate part of one's weapon within the proper right-of-way rules, a fencer can score a touch. Typical bouts go to five touches.

Answer 3

Two people, wearing ample protection and wielding swords, will fence under a certain set of rules to either 5 or 15. They will be directed by an official who will ask if they are ready, and then order them to "fence".

Answer 4

Before explaining judging itself, one must first understand the way fencing is scored.

To determine who was hit and where, each fencer wears an electric vest (don't worry, it doesn't shock you) that is connected to 1) a reel and 2) their blade. The blade has an electric spring tip that sends an impulse when it touches the electric vest, which is called a lame (pronounced lah-may'). The impulse goes through the body cord into the reel, which is connected to what is called the box. The box has 4 lights--a red one, a green one, and 2 yellow/white ones--and depending on who got the hit the light goes on. So if Fencer A is red, and B is green, then if A and B hit at the same time both red and green lights go on. If A hits first, then only the red light goes on, and same for if B hits first. If A hits but doesn't hit valid target area (the floor, for example) then the yellow light on the red side of the box lights up. Depending on the weapon, the valid target area may change. For the foil, only the torso is target area (hit the foot or head and it's off-target). For the epee (pronounced eh'-pey) the entire body is target area. For the sabre, only the torso and head are valid targets.

Now, on to the subtler things. In fencing, there is a general rule that whoever initiates the attack gets the point. This is known as 'right-of-way'. For example, if fencer A advances and strikes and fencer B responds by striking back, then even if they both hit at the same time the point will go to fencer A since he/she moved first. This is irrelevant in epee, however, because in epee it is possible to get 'double touches' - that is, both fencers get a point. In foil and sabre, however, right-of-way can make all the difference.

Right-of-way is further complicated by the actions that fencers can make. Parrying is the term for blocking your opponent's attack so that you don't get hit and can attack back, and a parry can be followed immediately by an attack of your own (called a riposte); more importantly, the fencer who parries and immediately follows it with a riposte steals the right-of-way. Let's say fencer A advances and lunges. Fencer B responds by parrying fencer A's blade and then making a lunge of his own (the riposte). Even if they manage to hit at the same time, the point is fencer B's, because even though fencer A moved first his/her right of way was lost when his/her blade was parried. The way to avoid this is to disengage, which is the action of dodging your opponent's parry and continuing with your attack. This will preserve your right of way.

Now that the basic overview of scoring is out of the way, judging is essentially just observing all the actions and then making a decision. Roughly half the time, right-of-way will be irrelevant, because the margin of time within which the two fencers must hit each other in order for both lights on the box to go on is very small. In other words, only one light will go on, and at that point you simply look at whether it's a valid touch or not and assign a point accordingly. Right-of-way will only come in if both lights go on. If you see fencer A advance first and then A and B hit each other at the same time, the point is A's. If you see fencer B advance first, lunge, get parried, and get hit, then it's A's point no matter what.

This starts to get complicated when you consider all of the other possibilities. Ostensibly, it is entirely possible for A to lunge, B to parry, A to parry B's riposte, B to parry A's riposte, and so on, with the two of them just standing there eternally parrying each other. This is why a good judge must be quick and observant. Fencers can parry each other so quickly that 3 parries look and sound like 2 (especially because almost any blade contact - including a light tap - can count as a parry). As a judge, it is your responsibility to count the parries and decide who had the final right-of-way. You must also decide exactly who is parrying - it's entirely possible for two fencers to parry each other at the same time, and often a decision will leave one fencer relieved and happy while leaving the other fencer indignant (as a fencer myself, I can remember countless occasions in which I could have sworn I parried first but the judge didn't agree). It is also possible to lose right-of-way without being parried. As mentioned earlier, right-of-way is earned when an action is initiated. However, it is critical that this action be continued. Consider this scenario: fencer A advances with intent to lunge but pauses for a split second. During that split second, fencer B begins to counterattack. A and B hit each other at the same time. Even though A moved first, he/she lost his/her right-of-way when he/she paused, so the point is B's.

Sorry for the long answer - judging isn't exactly a simple thing to explain!

Answer 5

The time limit for a 5-touch fencing bout is three minutes. For a 15-touch bout, it's 9 minutes.