Friday, January 11, 2019

Urban Axe Throwing

Right now, it is 29 degrees Fahrenheit in Philadelphia. When it gets that cold, I limit my time outdoors and start to seriously consider moving to sunny California. Finding new places to spend my time indoors is appreciated, so I was happy to be invited to a birthday party at Urban Axes, located at 2019 East Boston Street in the Kensington area of Philadelphia. That’s right, you can pay money to participate in the competitive sport of urban axe throwing. In addition to group events like the one I attended, they take walk-ins and have 8-week leagues.

Once you sign a waiver and crack open a cold one (it’s a BYOB), a knowledgeable coach, I mean axepert, will go over the rules and provide you with guidance on the best way to heave an axe. Getting a bullseye (which I found near impossible), or even getting the axe to stick in the wood is more dependent on rotation than force. You can earn between one to three points each time you throw. On the final throw each round you can earn seven points if you hit a green dot known as the clutch.

Our group of 14 had four throwing lanes and two wonderful coaches. I was not a natural at this sport, and despite all the encouragement and pointers, I came in last. After 45 throws which were split between three rounds, I ended up with 11 points. To put that into perspective, the other scores in the group ranged from 33 to 129 points.

 

After working up a sweat (just kidding, the axe was only slightly heavier than my can of hard cider) we went to Frankford Hall, located at 1210 Frankford Avenue in the Fishtown area. The hall has an outdoor area where gas lamps and fire pits will warm you while you enjoy your food and libations along with a game of Jenga.

I recommend getting the soft pretzel which is verified to be vegan as it does not contain dairy or eggs. Sadly, the beer I drank, Schofferhofer Grapefruit, according to BeerTutor, is not vegan as it contains carmine made from crushed cochineal beetles. Since that's disgusting, I need to find another beer next time I go there. To find out if your booze is vegan check out the website Barnivore.



2 comments:

  1. I am disappointed you did not say "crap open a cold one." Also I am jealous because axes. But hell yeah, pretzels!

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    1. I thought about your catch phrase as I typed that, so I hope that reduces your dissapoitment. Axes are more enjoyable to handle than I previously would have thought.

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