One can not overstate the impact of Joey The Hat in both the expansion and enjoyment of axe throwing worldwide. Between his challenge coin introduction and community-focused mindset, the dude has made our hobby something truly special. But perhaps one of his biggest impacts in the sport comes in the form of his ever-growing list of axe games: clever, out-of-the-bullseye games that add fresh excitement (and allow for skill growth) in the sport.
But not all of Mr. Nessler's axe games make it to the big time. Our team of researchers here at Axe Badger HQ managed to uncover a few of the games that Joey experimented with, but ultimately decided against releasing to the community. These, dear reader, are the rejected Joey the Hat axe games:
IN SOVIET RUSSIA
The premise of this game is simple: instead of throwing your axe at the target, you throw (a part of) the target at your axe. While Joey's test group enjoyed the novelty of the game, ultimately it cost too much and was difficult to really determine a logical point system.
THREE BLIND MICE
This game was expected to be a smash hit, as it allowed for the re-use of boards and was widely approachable by any level of player.
The rules are simple: mark three boards in your league's standard target set-up. Next, one person puts the boards up in the throwing lane, but the target is facing the wall, and MIGHT BE upside down. 2 Throwers then get 5 throws. Since only the person who put the target up knows where the scoring zones actually are, nobody is clear on who won until the target-setter-upper takes down the boards and reveals the configuration.
Why this never made it to Community Axe Games? Took too long, bruv.
STRANGER ARMS
Working on the same premise as Duals (in that there are two throwers per team), one thrower is blindfolded. The second thrower puts their arms behind their back and allow the blindfolded thrower to stand behind them. The blindfolded thrower....listen. This is too hard to explain. It's like the "Helping Hands" sketch from Who's Line Is It Anyway:
The "Arms" thrower, blindfolded, must take instruction from the surely nervous thrower in front of them.
Why you've never heard of this game? Because nobody survived the testing.
DaxeD
Joey, for a while, experimented with creating a tabletop version of axe throwing. Using a d20 and a series of pre-built modules, throwers - erm, I mean players, would simulate a low-fantasy setting where they competed in an axe throwing tournament.
Run by a LM - or "Lane Master," DaxeD never worked out, as completing the "campaign" takes something like 5 years. Mostly because the test group of players spent so much time buying axes in-game and befriending the lovable "Clutchy" NPC.
Comments