Have a buck’s or hen’s night to organise this weekend? You could marshall your crew to minigolf or karaoke or the bowling lane. Or you could, you know, take them axe-throwing.

Yes, axe-throwing. That most unlikely of pastimes will be on the cards from this Saturday when Lumber Punks opens in a warehouse on the corner of Ferry and Montague Roads in West End. It will be the second venue for Lumber Punks, after owners Sam Hay and Tyson McMillan opened their flagship venue on the Gold Coast in July last year.

Lumber Punks had its origins in a casual “business meeting” between Hay and McMillan, throwing axes in their backyard. The idea has grown into what’s now a popular haunt for locals and tourists on the Coast, with a competitive league on Monday and Tuesday nights.

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“It's kind of like darts, but with big axes,” McMillan says in a news release. “The technique is really easy and fast for beginners to master, 10 minutes and [you’re] good to go on all types of axes.”

The scoring system is simple, three concentric circles giving you one, three or five points, depending on your accuracy. On your fifth throw you can aim for one of two green dots above the main target to nab yourself seven points.

Axe-throwing grew from backyard origins to its first commercial venture in Canada 10 years ago. Now, there are venues throughout North America, the UK and Australia. Lumber Punks was the first axe-throwing venue in Queensland and the second in Australia after Maniax, which opened in Sydney in 2015. The opening of Lumber Punks West End will come just a couple of months after Maniax expanded to a second venue in Melbourne.

Lumber Punks angles itself towards group bookings such as birthday parties, buck’s nights or corporate events. But Hay says the activity is meant to be accessible to anyone over the age of 18.

“It's all technique so strength is not a factor,” he says. “We’ve had all demographics getting involved in
the sport … statistics show that 40 percent of throwers are women, so if you can pick up an axe, you can throw it into a target with some accuracy.”

Finally, before you ask: no, there will be no beer here. Lumber Punks keeps the axe-throwing a strictly sober affair. So maybe think of it as the warm-up event for that buck’s party, before the karaoke.

Lumber Punks opens at 2/427 Montague Road this Saturday August 11.