Bad Axe Throwing

Even though the venue is on the smaller side, it is barely noticed when you are having a great time. Come with a group of people and the fun is non stop. Our host Amanda was a pleasure to have. We will define tell be back in the near future!

This place is great for a fun bonding experience and igniting the competitive flames. Amanda is a great hostess and instigator of fun. The price may seem a bit steep, but once you find your groove you’ll definitely be planning your next visit. Cheers to Amanda and a great time at Bad Axe Throwing Mississauga.

Family bonding time today at Bad Axe Throwing in Mississauga. Amanda was great at keeping us engaged with multiple competitions and new challenges! Fun — Fun — Fun !!!

It was fun and our group enjoyed it. But $ 100/​couple is pretty steep for what you actually get for the cost.

Adida and Mel were awesome! Great time throwing axes with company function this past Friday!

This is a trendy with hipsters but I had fun regardless of its stigma…
It’s not too hard to get the hang of it and Coach Mel was very helpful in perfecting technique.
We had a lot of fun!

This was a great venue for a birthday party! Since it was my first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was really a great fun experience. Dotta (our hostess) really helped put by giving us tips and keeping score. There was another group on the other side of the unit but it was never an issue– we were able to bring our own snacks and drinks which was nice and the waiver signing system was quite easy. I would say it was a successful evening of axe throwing! Definitely looking into doing this all again in the near future! Thanks! David

Our group had a great time. Location was a little tricky to find, but beyond that, very fun. Great instructors that made the event more fun for all. Would definitely return.

This is something everyone prepping for the zombie apocalypse should try. The staff is very helpful, and always helping to get your form down. If I was local, I would check out their league night. If you do check it out, ask about the wildcard throws, they’re tricky.
Definitely fun, and would go again

It was fun and exciting… They continually help u try and progress the whole time… Staff was exellent. Couldn’t ask for more… Thanks for a great tim

MAKING RESERVATIONS:
Axe throwing, being one of the past year’s top leisure trends, was just something I had to try. So as my birthday celebration I gathered up a bunch of friends and made a reservation for 25 at Bad Axe this past Sunday. (The reservation process is quite smooth — you can either call in or make a booking request on their website).
Once you receive a confirmation that your booking time is available, you must make a deposit of $ 100 to secure your time slot ($ 200 if your booking is less than 2 weeks away).
BEFORE THE EVENT:
Bad Axe is a barebones facility. Even when given an address, it is still difficult to find as they don’t even have a sign up… I mean, well… They have a piece of 8.5“x11″ lined paper that says Bad Axe Throwing on the front door, but does that really count?
There’s even more minimalism once you walk inside — newly painted white walls from floor to ceiling. The only signage on the walls was for their social media accounts — it is 2015, after all. I later found out that they had only opened about a month prior and were still in the process of decorating the place. Eventually, they plan to put up some murals on the walls, get a lighted sign up on the building, etc. Fair, I guess — I can understand the eagerness to just get up and running to smooth things out first, but I gotta admit I somewhat felt like a guinea pig here.
I arrived half an hour early to set up some of the food that I had catered for the event. They have a large table where you can put your food. It easily fit my 7 trays of food, a cake, and cutlery. They also have two mini fridges where you can cool your drinks.
THE EVENT:
To throw at Bad Axe, there is a fixed fee of $ 50 (tax included) per person. In addition, you must fill out a waiver form. If you don’t want to throw axes, it’s totally free to spectate. And have as many spectators as you want, I had about 17 spectators for a group of 8 people actually throwing.
Andre, the lone employee there for us was quite charismatic and a good host. He was personable and kept us all entertained. Though quite a few people in my group came late, he was willing to wait until they arrived to begin the event.
Once everyone got settled in, he introduced everyone to the sport of axe throwing and conducted a thorough demonstration of proper form for throwing, both with one and two hands. Eager to give it a shot, the 8 of us began taking turns practicing on 2 of the axe throwing lanes.
One of my criticisms would be that we didn’t get to use all 4 of the throwing lanes. Andre informed us that it was company policy (for safety among other reasons) that an employee was only allowed to supervise 2 lanes at once. Given that I had made a reservation for 25 people (the other 17 decided to spectate last minute), would we have been expected to have 25 people take turns on 2 lanes for the entire duration? It wouldn’t hurt to have another employee on the premises to utilize the entire 4 lanes, especially considering the really high $ 50 fee and the minimal physical capital.
But anyway, after about a 45 minute long warmup, we began to play a team game. Andre split us up into 2 teams of four. The objective of the game was to score as many points as possible, with each member of each team getting 5 throws. The closer the axe to the bullseye, the higher the points awarded. We played a best-​of-​5 series, with each game incorporating some new variation, such as trick shots being awarded double points, throwing two axes, using your weaker hand, etc. My team ended up winning in 4 games.
We then had a cool down period where we were just messing around, playing H-​O-​R-​S-​E and trying different trick shots. Then just like that, about 2 hours in, our time was cut off.
My issue with this? The «game» really only took about half an hour. The rest of the time was spent practicing or just messing around. For a $ 50 fee, I feel that 20 throws (4 games x 5 throws) of gameplay is way too little. I would have gladly taken some time away from some practice and post-​game messing around to be able to play another game. Perhaps create a variety of types of games to play in a circuit format, or damn at least give us more than a best-​of-​5…
Value-​for-​money wise, you get next to nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun. But at the price point they operate at, I don’t think I’d ever go again. It’s just priced too high to be viable as a recreational, once-​in-​a-​while activity. I’m very curious to see their customer data and see just what % of their clients are repeat visitors… Because you can only rely on first-​time visitors looking to try that «new fun thing» for so long — eventually, they run out. I’d like to see axe throwing scale well, I really do. But it may rely a slightly altered business model. We’ll see what happens in a couple years.
Ps. Andre stayed back half an hour past the end of his shift to allow us to chat/​clean up. Much appreciated.