Electronic scoring

All three weapons are now scored electronically at pretty much any event above the club level (and a fair number of club events are as well). That is not to say there is no room for interpretation. Remember that two of the three weapons have right-of-way, so even when one person's scoring light comes on (indicating a touch to valid target), that person still may not be awarded a touch, if they did not have right of way.

Scoring for foil is done with the use of a lame (there should be an accent over the 'e' and it is pronounced lamay), which is a vest made of a metal mesh that is worn over the regular uniform, just covering the torso. The fencer also feeds a cord with two wires up his or her sleeve that plug into a socket inside the bell guard of the foil. Those 2 wires, plus a third clipped to the lame, connect to a socket on the end of a cable wound on a spring loaded reel at the end of the strip. As the fencer moves down the strip, cable feeds out, and it rewinds as the fencer retreats. The reels are connected to a scoring box. So, when fencer A touches fencer B, a button on the tip of his foil is pressed, opening a circuit. If the button is depressed against B's lame, a new circuit closes, and the box registers a valid touch. If the button presses against another part (not lame), the box registers a "white light" or off-target touch. The fencer's bell guards and (at higher levels) the floor of the fencing strip are grounded, so a touch to either place registers nothing. The director has to keep an eye on both fencers and the box, in order to determine who touched who, and who had right of way.

Epee is a little simpler - no lames, as the whole body is target. This time depressing the button on the tip of the epee closes a circuit that is open normally. No white lights, as nothing is off-target. I believe that epee was the first weapon to be scored electronically, possibly even back in the late 1800's.

Saberist have to wear lames (they cover the torso and arms, and there is a glove piece that covers the forearm of the weapon hand that is called a manchette). As the mask is also target, they have a little wire that attaches the back of the mask to the lame making it part of the same circuit. The system has to be a little different from here on. Saber stikes with the edge of the blade as well as the tip, so a simple button won't work. Originally, there was a device built into the guard of electric sabers called a capteur, that had a spring loaded ball bearing in it. It was designed to only complete the circuit if the touch was strong enough to move the ball bearing, and was in the correct orientation (in other words you had to hit hard enough and with the edge or tip, but not the flat, of the blade.) This was great in theory, but in reality, the capteurs would jam up, or be too sensitive, or one of a thousand other problems. Because of that, the fencing organization did away with capteurs, leaving just the blade. What this means is that the sabereur now holds what amounts to an electrified stick that he had to touch his opponent with above the waist. Touches made with the flat of the blade count just as well as tip or edge touches. Not being a sabereur, I can't comment on what this has done to the sport.

In his book "Magnum Libre D'Escrime" ("The Big Book of Fencing"), Dr. Rudy Volkman makes a comment that "Someday some one will hold a meet at which there are absolutely no problems with any of the electrical equipment. I suspect that the news of this event will be buried back on page eleven of the newspapers, however, with the first ten pages taken by the news that Hell has frozen over."

Electrical scoring is both a boon and the bane of many a fencer's existance. It has helped end squabbles along the lines of "You didn't touch me! Yes I did!" However, the failure rate is such that fencers can be penalized for showing up at the strip without at least 2 complete
sets of weapons and body cords in working order.

That being said, there is nothing sweeter than stepping in and attacking an opponent who way outclasses you, hearing the telltale "BZZZZT!" and looking over to see your light is the only one lit.
-Keith