They throw balls of lightening!!!

I know this is way overdue, but I think I’m still processing just how awesome this event was. I was invited to attend the Rat City Rollergirls’ bout #2 at Key Arena back on March 7th and was even allowed to take photos from the floor. I had never been to a bout before so I really didn’t know what to expect. They used to have these out at a hangar in Magnuson Park over in Sand Point, but they were always sold out. Well, since the Sonics are gone and the Thunderbirds are now playing in their shiny new arena in Kent, there is a lot more room at the Key for the Rat City Rollergirls. While not every seat was filled, there were a LOT of people in the stands.

I’m not going to go into the details of how flat-track roller derby is played, you can read all about that on their website. I will say the action is pretty fast, but the game is easy to understand once you watch a couple of jams. They also spend a good amount of time at the beginning explaining how it all works to the crowd. I’m hoping they are just doing this because of all the new spectators and fans they are getting from being in a bigger venue. In fact, that is my only gripe about the game, there is a lot of talking between action. It isn’t a bad thing exactly, but it did make bouts seems like they took forever to get started.

Each team has their own theme and personality. For example, the Derby Liberation Front has an air of gorilla warfare, while Grave Danger is more of a horror-punk/undead themed team. The officials are all characters as well, which makes it seem more of a fun game and less of a “we’re only playing this game so we can get to the playoffs and win something” attitude that most other team sports have. And they do all of this while maintaining a family friendly event. In fact, most of the skaters seem to go out of their way to high-5 kids or talk to them as they pass by. Really cool.

I strongly encourage anyone who is even remotely interested in the sport to go to the next bout, which is on April 18th (that’s a Saturday) at Key Arena. Prices are $20 for adults and $13 for kids under 13. Day of the bout the prices go up to $28 and $17. You can buy tickets at the Key Arena box office, or through Ticketmaster if you feel like giving a horrible company an extra 40% (personally I would just take the time to drive over to the Key and buy them in person).

Many more pictures of the bout I attended after the jump:

Key Arena setup for roller derby

View from the penalty box

Lacing up

Jam action

Score update, with a smile!

Rat City mascot!

DLF won the bout!

A couple of Socket Wenches

Skeletora – Mascot of Grave Danger

Chatting with some young fans