In case you haven’t noticed, wielding an axe is no longer something reserved only for lumberjacks and villains in slasher films.
Over the past several years, axe throwing as a casual pastime has grown in California, the country and internationally, giving people the chance to emulate their favorite action hero or horror villain — or just compete with friends in target practice.
“Axe throwing is so rewarding and empowering. The feeling of pulling out the axe buried deep inside a bull’s-eye is so satisfying,” says Madison Rhoades, CEO and creative director at Slashers Axe Throwing and Ales, which opened last December in Costa Mesa as a horror-themed experience with a beer bar. “At Slashers, we like to think of axe throwing as ‘final girl’ horror-movie training. It may seem intimidating, but after a few throws, we find that most people pick it up pretty quickly.”
Every venue has a different experience — though all offer training at the start of a session and coaching throughout. Rhoades says each axe-throwing venue is going to vary with the type of axes they provide, the type of targets and wood they use, and if they have projected targets with interactive games or just a standard bull’s-eye.
Whoop Axe Throwing in Lake Forest offers dancing nights in addition to axe throwing.
“Whoop Axe introduced dancing nights with unlimited axe throwing,” says owner Kory Johnson. “It’s the cheap version of axe throwing. Like bowling used to be. Therefore, we get the volume we love to see. … We don’t sell alcohol, so we are the place young people go to. Parents love to send their kids to Whoop Axe for wholesome fun and social entertainment. It works.”
Sarah Sed, commissioner for the World Axe Throwing League (WATL), which is headquartered in Ontario, Canada, says as they’ve seen the sport grow on the West Coast, they’ve witnessed a huge growth in participation in California.
“The growth is to the credit of passionate affiliates and league members,” Sed says. “We had several throwers qualify for WAKTC 2023 from California, including Neil Rust who earned second place in Hatchet representing his home venue, The Mighty Axe in Thousand Oaks.
“The Mighty Axe is also hosting great events that bring our sport to the local community,” she adds. “[In August], they hosted, for example, the first joint corn hole and axe-throwing tournament, SoCal ThrowCal, which was one of our largest venue-hosted tournaments this year.”
WATL was founded in 2017. As the sport of axe throwing started trending and expanding internationally, the founder noticed that many axe facilities followed similar business practices and axe-throwing rules, but there wasn’t much communication between the axe-throwing clubs. WATL created a forum for all axe-throwing venues to standardize official rules, reach a level of harmony and legitimize axe throwing as a professional sport.
“Axe throwing has been around as an activity for as long as axes have existed as tools and there is representation in historical references,” Sed says. “Modern axe throwing got its first big boost in the 1940s to 1960s with the increased popularity in timber sports. The games and competition that you see today started to form in Canada in 2006 and grew to include the United States in 2017.”
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In addition to Orange County and Los Angeles, would-be axe throwers elsewhere in Southern California have several options including The Mad Axer in Lake Elsinore, Valhalla Indoor Axe Throwing in San Bernardino, Axe Slayers Throw House in Redlands and Axe Thro Co in San Diego.
Axe Lair in Upland and Fullerton first opened in November 2018.
“We have the bragging rights of being one of the first in the boom of axe throwing venues, and the first in the Inland Empire,” says owner George Garro. “Everyone has their own theme and vibe. Even between our locations, Upland is themed to be desert country Western, and our Fullerton store is more coastal shipwreck cavern style.”