Oslo Penguin Cup 2026 Rules

Tournament Rules

The fencers participate at their own risk and discretion and are expected to follow the spirit of the tournament rules. Each bout should maintain a polite quality and instructions from tournament officials respected.

Bout Format

The fencers will start on either the blue or red end of the mat, and will be known by their colors during the bout.

The fencers will start at their respective starting position. The referee will ask table, judges and fencers if they are ready. When the bout is ready to start the referee will call the fencers to salute and begin the bout by calling “fence”.

When the referee calls “break”, the fencers must immediately halt their actions, separate and return to their starting position until the referee calls “fence” again.

If the score is equal when the bout ends, the bout is declared a draw. In the event of a draw during an elimination bout, the bout will continue to sudden death, the first fencer to win an exchange wins the bout. After the winner is announced the fencers salute and the referee will call the next bout.

If a fencer forfeits a bout for any reason they will also forfeit the rest of the current tournament, although they may participate in later tournaments.

Bout time

A bout is fought for 3 minutes or until one fencer has reached the score cap, whichever occurs first. The score cap for longsword and sidesword is 8 points. The score cap for rapier and sabre is 12 points. Finals will be best of 2 rounds of 3 minutes with a 1 minute break after the first round. The winner is the fencer who has won the highest number of rounds.

Time is not paused during normal scoring. In case there is a longer break in the bout for any reason, or if the ref has to clarify something with the line judge, the referee will call a time-out.

Ten seconds before the time limit is reached the table will call “Last exchange!”. That exchange will be allowed to be run to its end, so long as the fencers are actively engaging. If the exchange becomes passive, the referee will end the bout.

If the point limit is reached or time has run out and the last exchange is fenced, the table will call “match”, and the referee will end the match by announcing the winner of the bout.

Rules and penalties

Each bout should be conducted in a safe and respectful manner. The penalties for transgressions against these guidelines ascend as follows.

Penalties:

Bout protocol violations:

Safety violations:

Sportsmanship violations:

Each warning is recorded in the bout protocol. A warning is valid for the bout at hand. If a fencer commits a transgression that results in a warning it will be recorded and every subsequent warning will result in a loss of low points.

Serious or repeated violation of rules may lead to disqualification or removal from the event at the discretion of the tournament manager. Fouls marked with *** may lead to disqualification without warning in serious cases.

Violation against sportsmanship includes, but is not limited to, using foul language, throwing equipment and threatening tournament officials.

In cases where an offense cannot be properly addressed by the referee during the bout it is possible for the referee or any of the fencers to make an appeal to the tournament manager. The manager has the opportunity to remove match points from a fencer for a violation that hasn’t been fully addressed during the bout.

Injuries

If a fencer is injured during the bout, the referee will call a time-out and the medical staff will examine the fencer. If the medical staff clears the fencer to continue and the fencer wishes to do so, the bout can proceed.

If the bout cannot continue within 3 minutes the injured fencer will automatically forfeit the bout.

If an injury occurs, all mats will halt ongoing bouts until the situation is cleared for the benefit of medical staff and the injured fencer. Please do not disturb staff while they work.

Equipment failure

The referee will call a time-out when any equipment malfunctions or is broken. If a fencer or judge notices an equipment failure, they should point it out to the referee.

If a piece of personal protective gear is broken, the fencer has 3 minutes to find a replacement. If this is not possible, the fencer will automatically forfeit the bout.

Judging and Scoring

Mat Setup

The mats will be rectangular (8x4m) and have one referee and one point judge. The referee will score each exchange.

When a scoring hit occurs the point judge will call “point”, after a short tempo has been allowed for an attempted afterblow the referee will call break and the fencers return to their respective ends of the mat. The referee may also call break directly after they see a hit and has allowed a short tempo for an afterblow, even if the point judge does not call point.

The scoring will be solely decided by the referee but they will use the point judge for assistance. They may converse shortly with point judges if needed. The referee should not give a lengthy explanation for each decision but may use a few words to describe the scoring.

Fencers are free to signal if and where they are hit, but are not obliged to do this, the referee is also free to ignore these signals and fencers should not stop fencing until the referee calls break.

Scoring

The following targets are illegal, and are worth no points:

Points will be awarded for strikes, thrusts and slices with the weapon as well as specific grappling actions and other circumstances. Strikes that land with the flat of the blade or are made without proper arc and intention are worth no points.

The score cap for longsword and sidesword is 8 points. The score cap for sabre and rapier is 12 points.

The point judge will use the following semaphores to indicate points after an exchange:

All strikes with the hilt of the sword including pommels and crossguards are illegal except for careful and controlled pommel strikes to the front of the mask in longsword.

Grabbing the blade of an opponent’s sword is allowed, special rules apply to rapier, see below.

Disarming an opponent is worth high points if grappling distance is broken. If a fencer drops their weapon their opponent will be awarded high points, you are not required to perform an attack to score points after disarming an opponent.

Parrying thrusts with the off-hand is allowed. Parrying strikes with the off-hand is not allowed and will count as a strike to the hand. Covering a high points target with the off-hand will count as if the high points target is struck.

All unarmed strikes are illegal and will result in a warning if performed. Using hands or feet to push an opponent is allowed.

All scoring actions with the sword/other weapons have priority over other scoring actions such as grappling, disarm, ringout. If one fencer lands a strike with their sword and is taken down afterwards only the sword action will count.

Longsword and sidesword

Longsword

Sidesword

Sabre

Rapier

Double hits and afterblows

If both fencers are hit during an exchange, both fencers will score points as per scoring rules. Scores are subtracted, so if fencer A scores 2 points with a thrust to the chest and fencer B answers with a cut to the hands, 2 - 1 = 1 point will be awarded to fencer A.

For an afterblow to score the attack must be started immediately after being hit or before. The attack must land within one tempo which is defined as one continuous movement as well as maximum one step.

There are no special rules for double hits.

Scoring in grappling

The intention of the grappling rules is to encourage good grappling per the sources and allow for some time for the fencers to set this up. Grappling will be permitted to progress for some time as long as there is a clear effort to perform a takedown and the action does not stall.

All throws and takedowns are worth high points. Break will be called when a fencer hits the ground, there will be no time allowed for ground grappling.

Throws and takedowns must be executed with control and respect for the fencer being taken down. Please bear in mind that while we have mats, they are of the 2.5cm thick variety, not full thickness judo/wrestling mats.

Slams and any grappling action that goes against the natural direction of the joints are forbidden and will result in warning or disqualification if performed, depending on severity.

If a fencer steps fully out of the mat with both feet their opponent will be awarded low points. Pushing, fencing or pressuring an opponent out of the mat is allowed as long as this is done with care and the opponent does not go flying in an unsafe manner, this will give a warning.

If a fencer steps off the mat and is hit, the hit will still count but any strike performed while off the mat will not.