Urban Axe Throwing with Whistle Punks

Looking for some stress relief? Throw an axe! Seriously, it’s weirdly therapeutic.

I was invited to review Whistle Punks Urban Axe Throwing, London, situated approximately a 10 minute walk from Vauxhall station.  Until recently, I had no idea this was even a thing, so eager to see what it was all about, Dan and I headed over after work for our slot at 8pm.

What is Urban Axe Throwing?

Urban axe-throwing is pretty much an extreme version of darts. It’s a sport whereby you throw an axe at a large wooden board with targets painted on, and get points based on where your axe lands.

The scores are as follows:

How does the session work?

The venue is a large single room, resembling a giant shed, which gives it a very natural and authentic vibe.  I associate axe throwing with being out in the woods, and this venue recreates that really well.  There are 4 ‘axe-throwing’ lanes, however only two were in use for our session.

We were split into teams of around 10 which I initially thought was going to be too many and was worried we wouldn’t have enough time actually throwing the axe.  This was completely untrue.  I would say I had around 40 shots at the dartboard.  After a quick safety briefing, we received 10 practise shots each.  This was monitored closely by the instructors, who were extremely helpful in improving people’s technique.  They were able to determine the spin of your axe and move you slightly forwards or backwards to give a better chance of your axe sticking to the target.  They also taught us two types of throws; a one handed throw, which consists of you throwing it over your shoulder (that’s the one I went for), and the double handed throw, whereby you throw the axe over your head.

The Tournament!

Once everyone had practised their throws and chosen their desired technique, it was time for the tournament! The tournament involves a head-to-head battle with people in your group, which requires you to throw 5 axes each, to see who scores the most points.  Dan and I were first up for our very competitive head to head.  I hate to admit that he beat me but to be honest, I was just happy I managed to get some points on the board! I played a total of 5 games during this “group” stage meaning I got to throw another 25 axes at the board which is pretty good going.  Although I only won two of my games, I am very happy to announce that they were against the other girls in the team, meaning I had the highest female score (yeyyy).  Technically, that means I won right?

Check us out here:

Once everyone had played their head-to-heads, the ‘group’ stages came to a close, and the points were added up.  Those who finished in the top four, made it through to the semi-final, which of course led on to the final, which was a lot more intense and exciting than I expected axe throwing to be! Turns out, the guy who won scored a total of 60 points, meaning he made it to the wall of fame!

After the tournament, we still had around 20 minutes left on the clock, which allowed the instructor to teach us a few trick shots.  We were shown how to throw two axes at once (someone actually managed to get both on the board) and learnt to throw an axe with an underarm throw.  I say learnt, the underarm throw did not go down well with me.  When I think underarm, I think of a tennis serve, and literally served the axe straight into the air. Oops.

 

I absolutely loved my session at Whistle Punks and would definitely recommend it to those who are yet to try.  The length of the session was ideal, we all had a lot of turns at throwing the axe, and we met a lot of great people.  The tournament was really fun and competitive, and the instructors were extremely helpful and kept the atmosphere alive.  It is definitely a unique and quirky thing to do in London and would be great for a group of friends.  However, even if you wanted to try it on your own, you immediately meet other people and are made to feel very welcome.

For more info, check out their website: Whistle Punks Urban Axe Throwing

 

Disclaimer

*  I received complimentary tickets to review this experience