Lumina is a sport where participants, also known as Lumens, compete against each other for points in timed rounds either player against player or team against team.
Lumina is a weapon-combat dancing sport where participants, also known as Lumens, compete against each other for points in timed rounds either player against player or team against team. The focus is on the choreography play occurring between 2 opponents. The objective is to use prearranged combat Choreographed Movements (CM) sequences to either out perform your partner or to work as a team with and accrue the largest amount of successfully delivered and defended sequences. Hits are not encouraged but rather penalized.
All attacks are communicated prior to an exchange by the use of Telegraphy. Telegraphy is a silent gesture that the attacker performs to specify what CM they will be delivering. The concept of Lumina is usually demonstrated with melee weapons but not limited to saber or staff. Weapons are used as instruments and are, in most cases, harmless as they should be blunt instruments and are used primarily as props for the purposes of the game. Safety is encouraged with the use of safety gear such as eye protection, padded gloves and anything that makes the player feel comfortable while not encumbering them.
LUMINA Duets are about teamwork. A team of Lumens works together to create the most dazzling of fight choreographies and try to out-perform all other teams to stage the best fight. Each round, participants face off and points are accumulated. Points are counted as successfully committed or defended CMs. The objective of each round is to obtain the highest amount of points. The winner is the team with the highest score at the end of the game. The winner of the game is the team that completes the most amount of points they've accrued through CMs.
Points
Simple: +1
- CM-A
- CM-H
- CM-Q
Advanced: +2
- CM-B
- CM-C
- CM-G
- CM-I
- CM-J
- CM-N
- CM-R
- CM 11
- CM 12
- CM 13
Extended: +3
- CM-D
- CM-E
- CM-F
- CM-K
- CM-L
- CM-O
- CM-P
- CM 14
How to play:
- Gather 2 participants
- Flip a coin for opening attacker
- Begin timer or Set number of rounds
- Participant A telegraphs a CM of choice to Participant B
- Both engage
- Upon successfully completing the CM or a mistake occurring, the turn is over and roles switch
- Participant B telegraphs a CM of choice to Participant A
- Both engage
- Upon successfully completing the CM or a mistake occurring, the turn is over and roles switch
- Repeat until timer or number of rounds is completed
- Determine points based on CMs & Powerplay combinations.
How to win:
- Winning team of players is team that achieves the most amount of points in a given match.
- Tournaments may be played in brackets with singles or doubles.
Judging:
- Only 2 players: Use a camera/phone to capture the match and make the judgement calls after the fight.
- 3+ players: Have at least 1 player watch and make the judgement calls.
How to get prepared:
- Learn the forms & the telegraphs
- Practice in Accelerators
Recovery
Recovery is the act of saving a failing CM during the exchange. If a team partner looses their place, or is confused and their partner can get them back on track in less than than 2 moves, the CM is “recovered” and counts for its full points including powerplays. To define “bringing duets back on track” it all comes down to pace. Both partners should work together in order to pickup a possibly incomplete CM or Powerplay by continuing a particular pace throughout the CM that does not deviate. Three or more misses of a CM constitutes an Incomplete.
Example Recoveries:
1. If the lumens ended up switching (offensive vs defensive) but both made switch at same time and completed (just the opposite side). Assuming the pace remain consistent, this counts as a recovery.
2. If the lumens ended up switching (offensive vs defensive) in mid-CM but both made switch at same time and completed (just the opposite side). Assuming the pace remain consistent, this counts as a recovery.
Winning the Season
The Champion plays a crucial coaching role and becomes a judge in the following season. Their role is titled the “Baseline” as their score is not tallied but they may participate with active Lumens who are competing in order to provide them an advantage with their proficiency. The Baseline fills in for empty spots in any given game where only and odd count number of players are available. Their partner receives the points from the round, however the Baseline does not.
If the Lumen opts not to judge 75% or more of the following season’s matches, they are disqualified from participating in the following season’s games.
Handicaps
A Handicap is when you offer an advantage/disadvantage to your players. On any given game, a set of CMs may be worth higher or less points. This can help “shake things up” as a CM that usually is worth many points may, for a game, be considered worth less.
For example, say in your upcoming game, your judges agree that CM-N and CM-G are worth 5 points while CM-D and CM-E are worth 1 point. This helps challenge your Lumens to learn as many CMs as possible so they are always ready when handicaps are thrown into the play.
Handicaps should be communicated at least 2 weeks before the next game. Handicaps apply to both formats of the game.
Example Play:
Advanced Play
Fundamentals Play
Please Be Safe
SaberCraft recommends that you seek the advice of your physician before commencing any exercise routine. Like any sport, injuries may occur and safety gear is always recommended including padded gloves, eye protection and proper athletic wear. We provide a warm-up guide on SaberCraft.org. The participant assumes any & all risks of injury associated with or in any manner related to participation in any LUMINA-related activity, including injury resulting from the negligence of any party. We’re not responsible for any injuries that may occur while practicing or performing. Now that we got the legal stuff out of the way, let’s dive in.
Advanced: +2
- CM-B
- CM-C
- CM-G
- CM-I
- CM-J
- CM-N
- CM-R
- CM 11
- CM 12
- CM 13
Extended: +3
- CM-D
- CM-E
- CM-F
- CM-K
- CM-L
- CM-O
- CM-P
- CM 14
Rules:
- Play must be conducted in a designated area/arena, we recommend a minimum of 30' x 30'.
- Each match can either be set by time-limit or a predesignated number of rounds.
- Each round consists of turns between Lumens. If the match is time-limit based, then it's unlimited rounds; if the match is Round-based then it's up to a particular round. You can also do a hybrid of both: 10 rounds or 2 minutes - whichever happens first.
- A turn is where 1 participant engages against the other player using either 1 CM or up to 2 CMs (in a PowerPlay) of choice.
- Participants switch role as attacker after each turn.
- Attacker must telegraph to Defender of incoming CM.
- CMs are pre-assigned combinations of points. Each CM is a different value and divided into 3 categories:
- Simple CMs are worth 1 point.
- Advanced CMs are worth 2 points.
- Extended CMs are worth 3 points.
- Styled pauses & locks are also counted as steps. Interrupting pauses nulls points in turn.
- The Team is awarded points if attacker and defender successfully complete a CM.
- Points are awarded to the team, not the players.
- Attackers must step forward.
- Defenders must step backwards.
- If attacker forgets a strike, the CM is invalid and the turn switches to the defender.
- Optional: CMs can be played in combinations resulting in a “Power Play” for an additional point. Attacker must combine 2 different telegraphs prior to engaging in the attack. A maximum of 2 CMs can be played consecutively. Power Play points are granted to the winner of the turn. Depending on the complexity determines the points. For example:
- 2 Simple CMs: +1 = 3 Total Points
For example: CM A (worth 1 point) + CM H (worth 1 point) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 3 points for that turn. - 1 Simple + 1 Advanced: +1 = 4 Total Points
For example: CM A (worth 1 point) + CM G (worth 2 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 4 points for that turn. - 2 Advanced CMs: +1 = 5 Total Points
For example: CM I (worth 2 points) + CM J (worth 2 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 5 points for that turn. - 1 Advanced CM + 1 Extended CM: +1 = 6 Total Points
For example: CM J (worth 2 points) + CM K (worth 3 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 6 points for that turn. - 2 Consecutive Extended forms: +1 = 7 Total Points
For example: CM E (worth 3 points) + CM K (worth 3 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 7 points for that turn.
- 2 Simple CMs: +1 = 3 Total Points
- Optional: Weight classes have different saber thickness. The larger the opponent, the thinner the saber.
- Striking participant incurs a penalty upon injury to partner. The worse the injury, the worse the penalty. Minimum penalty is 1 point, maximum penalty is disqualification.
- Suggestion: It's good in larger groups to have 2 versions depending on player level. A Fundamentals version that only uses a small number of CMs for beginners and where strike/defenses rules are more lenient. An Advanced version of the game would then open it up to more/all the CMs and rules would be strictly enforced. For a demo, see below for example play.
