The House of Axes
In the New Town there’s a little street called Černa which literally means Black Street. On the entryphone to one of the apartment blocks in that street is the single word “Axes”. It is your gateway to The House of Axes because this activity is all about 90 minutes of learning to throw axes.
Arrival and Entering the House of Axes Venue
Having arranged your date/time reservation you arrive at the address and you press the “AXES” button. A guy called Harry or one of his staff will let you in and escort you down the steps into the dungeon….. I mean, basement.
Once you’ve made yourself comfortable in the brick and stone basement and signed an injury disclaimer form you’ll get a full safety briefing about the layout of the throwing area i.e. what the coloured lines on the floor mean. The 90 minutes I was there none of the thrown axes came outside the cage. TIP: Take the axes out one at a time and put them in the log, don’t try and carry all 5 axes as you’ll drop one even though they are taped to help your grip.
Techniques
They’ll show you the techniques for single handed and double handed throwing. Pay close attention as the better your technique and timing, the better your score. I preferred single handed.
Scoring
The scoring system is international so if you have done this in the USA or Canada then it’s the same. There is an outer blue ring, an inner red ring, a black central ring and two green circles. The ring where most of the axe is embedded counts so the closer to the centre the higher the score with the outer blue ring worth 1 point, the red ring is worth 3 points and anything inside the black ring is worth 5 points. The green circles are special. You get to throw 5 axes in one go but for the last axe you can say that you are aiming for the green circle and if you hit it then that is worth 7 points. I thought 21 was a damn good score considering I was only there for 90 minutes.
De-Stressing at the House of Axes
Once you’ve got a technique and timing then you can really let rip. Imagine somebody or something right in the middle of the target and fire away. Harry, our guide for the evening said that we could bring a photo and he’d happily pin it to the target so ex-partners and cruel bosses beware!!
My Reflections of the House of Axes
If you pick it up quick then it’s great fun especially if you are competing against friends or colleagues but it can be frustrating if you can’t master the basic technique as it’s a fine line between the axe embedding in the target and bouncing off it. You’ve got 90 minutes to master the technique so that should be plenty of time. Listen to the instructor, remember where your feet are positioned and keep the axe straight. All in all I thought The House of Axes was great fun and something different with friendly staff to show you what to do.
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