Dama To The Death 3 Recap





Winner burns all.

That has been our catchphrase for Dama To The Death ever since we first decided to host it back in 2018. Needless to say, that catchphrase still holds up today. However, our 2020 contest was a little different. We had two separate divisions this year – an Am KEN Tournament, and Pro Freestyle Tournament – and both were winner burns all. So this year the winner of the KEN tournament and the winner of Freestyle Tournament would ignite the piles of their opponents kens together.

Sol X Honed Collab Kendama Release Party

Photos by Miguel Merced



2020 was our third installment of Dama To The Death and we wanted to go bigger than ever. We teamed up with Sol Kendamas and together we produced a kendama called Antithesis, and we plotted a release party the night before Dama To The Death 3 at Iron Cow Cafe in Orlando.







We produced a video for it and it premiered that night to a huge crowd of players who were excited to see old friends, meet new ones, and get their hands on an Antithesis kendama.

We also screened The Story Of Dama To The Death, an 8 minute documentary recounting the origins on DTTD and how it all came to be. It was a project that was 2 years in the making and it was a great feeling to screen it in front of a large audience of actual kendama players who would be experiencing the event for themselves the very next day.

Game Day was Literally LIT

The day of the actual tournaments we were up bright and early setting up at Dead Lizard Brewing Co. Some players showed up early and practiced waiting eagerly for the clock to strike 1pm. A lot of people preregistered this year and we had some really helpful volunteers who assisted in setting up, being behind tables, and refereeing KEN matches all da, so they made the event run a lot smoother.

















The Am KEN tournament began around 1:30pm and went on until about 5:00pm. Everything was then moved inside to the main stage where the finals of the KEN tournament took place and the Pro Freestyle was set to start. Our Am KEN tournament final podium this year was:

3rd place – Ean Sheffrey, 2nd place – Squid, 1st place – Troy Monteagudo.







After the KEN Tournament everyone took their seats and the Pro Freestyle began. We wanted to do a Pro Freestyle this year because we felt like giving the pro’s a stage to themselves to hammer out some screwy bangers for the audience to (and judges of course) to enjoy after a long day of KEN matches. Needless to say they didn’t disappoint. Alex Mitchell, Josh Kim, Kevin DeSoto, Christian Fraser, and Zach Magnuson laid down some clean bangers that made a judges sweat. And then with Chad Covington and Bjorn Sorenson whipped out some stylish freestyle runs that kept everybody on their toes. Overall, the Pro Freestyle was a spectacle that kept the audience hyped and filled Dead Lizard Brewing with an unquestionable energy. Our Pro Freestyle final podium this year was:

3rd place – Kevin DeSoto, 2nd place – Josh Kim, 1st place – Zach Magnuson.

Dama To The Death 3 was a game changer for us. This years contest had the largest sponsorship, registered players, and attendance then any other event we’ve ever hosted. It is Honed’s biggest milestone, and if you told us that 2 years ago when we were planning DTTD1, we probably wouldn’t believe you. Never in our right minds would we think that Dama To The Death would become the largest kendama competition in the Southeastern United States, but it has. And not just because of us, but because of the enormous amount of support we received from the generous companies that sponsored it, the players who played in it, and the people who showed up just to see it. And to them we are forever grateful.

Until next year folks.

– The Honed Team



