Roller Derby
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6correct to beat the crowd
50 free Roller Derby trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Roller derby has had two lives. It began in Depression-era America as a touring endurance show on a banked wooden track, grew into a television hit, and faded in the 1970s. Then, in the early 2000s, a group of women in Texas rebuilt it from scratch as a real, skater-run contact sport, and it spread around the world. This quiz covers both eras. You will find questions on how the modern game works, from jammers and blockers to penalties and referee signals, plus the WFTDA, its champions and its trophy. There is history too: the promoter who invented the show, the big names of the old leagues, and the films, books and TV series that put derby on screen. A few questions celebrate derby names, the wordplay skaters use for their track identities. It suits league trivia nights, new recruits learning the rules, and fans who came to the sport through a film or a friend's first game. Every answer comes with a brief explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which 2009 film features Elliot Page as Bliss Cavendar, a Texas teenager who swaps beauty pageants for roller derby?
Whip It
Whip It was adapted by Shauna Cross from her own novel Derby Girl, and real leagues helped promote it by skating around town in the film's costumes.
Q 02In which Texas city did roller derby's modern revival begin in the early 2000s as an all-female amateur sport?
Austin
Austin skaters founded their league in 2001, and by August 2006 more than 135 similar leagues had followed.
Q 03Which symbol marks the helmet cover of a roller derby jammer, the only skater on a team who can score?
A star
A star makes the jammer easy to spot, which matters because every opposing blocker that jammer laps is worth a point.
Q 04The 1989 TV show RollerGames settled tied games with a race around a pit billed as holding which animals?
Alligators
Alligators were the show's most talked-about gimmick, though a backstage insider told one reporter the pit stayed empty during regular play for safety.
Q 05Which future Oscar winner appeared as a child in the 1972 roller derby film Kansas City Bomber?
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster was making only her second feature film appearance when MGM released the skating drama.
Q 06Which kind of wordplay drives most roller derby skater names, such as Mazel Tov Cocktail and Trauma Queen?
Puns
Puns are prized so highly that new skaters are urged to check an international roster first, so no two players share a name.
Q 07On what did promoter Leo Seltzer jot his first ideas for Roller Derby while out at a restaurant in 1935?
A tablecloth
A tablecloth held the first notes for a show that crossed roller skating with the six-day bicycle races then drawing big crowds.
Q 08Which way must roller derby skaters travel around the track, since blocking while moving the other way is banned?
Counterclockwise
Counterclockwise is the rule for everyone, so referees penalize a skater who blocks or assists while rolling the opposite way.
Q 09Which actress directed her first film, a 2009 roller derby comedy, and played skater Smashley Simpson in it?
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore also co-produced the film, casting Kristen Wiig as a teammate and Juliette Lewis as the rival Iron Maven.
Q 10Which gesture does a roller derby lead jammer repeat to end a jam before its time runs out?
Hands on hips
Hands on hips, tapped again and again, lets the leader end play the moment a rival jammer is about to score.
Q 11In which city did 20,000 spectators watch Leo Seltzer's first Transcontinental Roller Derby open in August 1935?
Chicago
Chicago's Coliseum staged a pretend coast-to-coast race in which pairs of skaters circled a banked track to cover 3,000 miles.
Q 12Which item joins the helmet and knee pads among the protective gear that roller derby rules require of every player?
Mouth guard
A mouth guard is compulsory, along with wrist protection, because hard falls and body contact come with every jam.
Q 13Which baseball term do roller derby fans use when a jammer passes every opposing blocker for four points?
Grand slam
Grand slam is the nickname for lapping the whole opposing pack in one pass, the most a jammer can add on a single trip.
Q 21Which Canadian city hosted the first Roller Derby World Cup in December 2011, at a venue called The Bunker?
Toronto
Toronto saw a lopsided final, in which Team USA beat the hosts Canada by 336 points to 33.
Q 22Which country is home to the Victorian Roller Derby League, the first non-American WFTDA champions in 2017?
Australia
Australia took the title through a Melbourne league that in 2010 had won the largest tournament then held outside the US.
Q 23Which famous arena did the National Roller Derby League's playoffs sell out for a week in its 1949–50 debut season?
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden set five-day Roller Derby attendance records of 77,000 in 1950 and then 82,000 in 1951.
Q 14Which Hollywood actress played K.C. Carr, a single mother skating for a new team, in the film Kansas City Bomber?
Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch broke her right wrist in a speed skating session, which halted shooting for eight weeks.
Q 15Which mythical beast names the roller derby trophy awarded to WFTDA champions, honouring the body's first president?
The Hydra
The Hydra trophy carries the derby name of a founding WFTDA member and was first presented to the 2008 champions.
Q 16How long can a single roller derby jam last if the lead jammer never calls it off?
2 minutes
At 2 minutes the jam timer ends play, and both sides then get just 30 seconds to line up for the next jam.
Q 17Which word, shared with boxing and wrestling, do roller derby players traditionally use for a single game?
Bout
Bout is the usual word for a full game, which is split into halves of half an hour each.
Q 18Which roller derby blocker wears a striped helmet cover and may take over as the team's jammer mid-jam?
Pivot
The pivot takes over only when the jammer passes across the scoring helmet cover, perhaps through fatigue, injury or a worse position.
Q 19Which Depression-era craze was Leo Seltzer promoting, under the name walkathons, before he created Roller Derby?
Dance marathons
Dance marathons were billed as walkathons because the worn-out couples mostly shuffled, and some contests ran for as long as 40 days.
Q 20Which writer, whose stories inspired Guys and Dolls, urged Leo Seltzer to add more contact to Roller Derby?
Damon Runyon
Damon Runyon saw a game in Miami in the late 1930s and pushed for more of the collisions he found so exciting.
Q 24Besides hits above the shoulders or below mid-thigh, contact to which part of an opponent is banned in roller derby?
The back
The back is an illegal target, while the chest, the arms and the front and sides of the torso are all fair game for a legal block.
Q 25Which roller derby term, echoing ice hockey, describes play while one team's scoring skater sits in the penalty box?
Power jam
Power jam borrows from ice hockey's power play: while one jammer sits in the penalty box, only the other team can score.
Q 26Which TV series brought roller derby to The Nashville Network from 1999 to 2001, with many skaters on inline wheels?
RollerJam
RollerJam was taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, with the son of roller derby's creator hired as its on-screen commissioner.
Q 27Which skater, nicknamed the Blonde Bomber, was a premier attraction of the original Roller Derby for 19 seasons?
Joan Weston
Joan Weston also played softball in college, and kept at it in Bay Area leagues after she hung up her skates.
Q 28Which ballpark drew a record roller derby crowd of 50,118 in September 1972 to watch the Midwest Pioneers win?
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park staged a rare meeting of two rival leagues that day, and the Midwest Pioneers won it 82 to 79.
Q 29Which 1970s singer of character-driven story songs recorded Roller Derby Queen for his album Life and Times?
Jim Croce
Jim Croce wrote every track on the 1973 album, which also gave him the only number-one hit of his lifetime, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.
Q 30Which book award went to Roller Girl, Victoria Jamieson's graphic novel about a girl who takes up roller derby?
Newbery Honor
A Newbery Honor came in 2016 for the story of Astrid, which the author both wrote and illustrated.