As hatchet-throwing catches on in North Jersey, more locations pop up

Show Caption Hide Caption Getting the Axe A visit to Stumpy's Hatchet House, the new hatchet-throwing venue in Fairfield

No lighted sign on route 46 advertises Stumpy's Hatchet House. No highway billboard tells you to turn right in 400 feet.

Stumpy's Hatchet House, which opened Friday — "Stumpy's 46," unofficially, to distinguish it from the two current and 10 pending Stumpy's franchises — is tucked away in the rear of an office park in Fairfield.

There's nothing to direct you to this particular door. No neon sign to tell you you've arrived at a place where tomahawks are hurled at a target, like darts in a pub. Which is to say, between chugs of beer.

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Nor is that wholly unintentional, says the co-owner, Armando DiRienzo.

"That's actually the biggest complaint that we've had, that we're a little difficult to find," DiRienzo says. "But it kind of adds to the allure of the place."

It's the whole outlaw trip, in other words. The First Rule of Stumpy's Hatchet House is You Don't Talk About Stumpy's Hatchet House. By contrast, another hatchet franchise, Bury the Hatchet, which opened a venue in Bloomfield in April, is as conspicuous as a sunflower. An enormous sign looms over the sidewalk, beckoning to new trade.

“We do try to cater to beginners, just as much as people who might be familiar with the world of ax throwing,” said Jon Asher, Bury the Hatchet's regional manager.

A third local ax emporium, Axehole's Hatchet House NJ, part of Escape Room NJ (they also feature Escape Rooms and other attractions) looks — from the outside — like an ordinary Main Street storefront in Hackensack.

"Anyone who walks in from the outside, it's like oh my God," says the proprietor, Jeff Sherfer.

Hatchet-hurling, in fact, is quite the suburban thing these days. No longer is it the stuff of logging camps and covered-wagon attacks. And it's just one of many odd, low-tech entertainment crazes that have popped up in recent years.

There are Escape Rooms (a group in a locked room puzzles out the clues that will help them escape). There is Airsoft, a variation of paintball. There are Rage Rooms, where people smash things with baseball bats. There's Fowling, a cross between football and bowling, popular in the Midwest but yet to catch on here.

Pushback, perhaps, to our enslavement by computers and the virtual world? Maybe, DiRienzo says.

"I found that basically what people want nowadays is an experience," says DiRienzo, a Florham Park resident who owns Stumpy's Fairfield with three partners.

"They want something to do, something that's not normal, kind of a break from your phone," he says.

Such attractions are also sweet from a business standpoint: easy startups, many of them, with modest overhead. All that's needed is a storefront venue or a room in an office park, and a little imagination. And an Instagram account.

"For the most part, our social media presence is getting people to us," DiRienzo says. "That, and word of mouth."

An international fad lands in the U.S.

Hatchet-hurling, as a popular fad, is not new. It's been a thing for some time in Canada, Australia and other places. But for its introduction to the U.S. market, you can thank Kelly and Stuart Josberger, and Trish and Mark Oliphant, the four friends who co-founded Stumpy's. Their original location in Eatontown, dating to 2016, seems to have been the first of its kind in this country.

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"Retail is down because everybody is buying things online," Kelly Josberger says. "But you can't buy an experience online."

The whole thing started, she says, with a tree that Superstorm Sandy had downed in 2012, in the Josberger backyard in Toms River. That tree left a stump.

"We came back to our house to do a barbecue," Kelly Josberger recalls. "The guys were bored, they were chopping wood, and — boys will be boys — they began playing, and they made a game of throwing the hatchet into the stump, what was left of the tree.

"Trish and I weren't interested in playing at first, but then we joined in. We found it kind of addicting."

And so was born Stumpy's — which opened its first venue in Monmouth County two years ago. Named after the tree stump, to be perfectly clear.

"A lot of people think it's about missing an arm or a leg," she says.

Ah yes, that.

Ax-flinging, from a safety standpoint, does raise some questions — and eyebrows. Especially when, as in the case of Stumpy's, it's combined with drinking. Stumpy's is a BYOB place (beer and wine only, no hard liquor). Bury the Hatchet in Bloomfield — there are 8 other locations — is applying for a BYOB license.

"Drunkenness or rowdiness due to alcohol" has not led to any incidents at Bury the Hatchet venues, Asher says. Neither have there been any safety issues at any of the Stumpy's locations, Josberger says.

"We have no accidents on record, no claims on record," she says. "The only way we could get insurance is by making sure this was 100 percent safe."

Stumpy's has protocols. Everyone gets at least 10 minutes of coaching. Hatchets must be handed directly back to their holders, not passed from person to person. Participants must be 21 or older. No open-toed footwear allowed. "IF YER TOES ARE SHOWIN — YER NOT THROWIN!" reads a posting at the Eatontown venue.

Even so, Stumpy's insurance rates are high: 1 percent of gross sales. "We have specialty insurance, the same as if you were going to open up a gun range or start a circus," Josberger says,

We recently visited the Stumpy's in Eatontown, the model for the one opening this week in Fairfield, and another that is scheduled to open sometime in 2019, somewhere in Bergen County (the location has yet to be finalized).

Knots of friends, women as well as men, were laughing and chugging beers and periodically — THWOK!! — sending their hatchets flying at the targets. Every once in a while, some high scorer would tug on a rope, and a clang-clang-clang would sound throughout the room. "RING THE BULLSEYE BELL," reads a sign.

"It's all fun, a good way to get a little aggression out," said Steve Kokenge of Little Silver, who was sipping on a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Others — regulars — were wearing official Stumpy's T-shirts with legends like "I'm basically a lumber jack" and "KISS MY AXE."

Stumpy's uses 2.5 pound Estwing hatchets, the kind people use on camping trips. At one of 12 "pits" inside the Fairfield venue — they have names like "Money Pit," "Viper Pit" and "Pit Boss" — up to 12 people can compete to hit the bullseye. It takes about an hour, staff members say, for most newbies to get the hang of it.

"It's kind of more about finesse than brute strength," DiRienzo says. "It's really about letting the weight of the hatchet stick it to the wood. You want to keep a stiff wrist as you release, and try to have a smooth tempo. I kind of equate it to golf."

There are point systems — with names like "Stumpy's Standard Play" and "Around the World." But Stumpy's is more about fun than competition. People even have bachelorette parties and baby showers there, Josberger says.

"Our concept is about the whole social aspect," she says. "You're throwing axes for fun. It's mostly for people to come and have this really rustic experience."

Stumpy's Hatchet House of Fairfield

WHEN: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 5 pm. to 12 a.m. Friday, 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Reservations required.

WHERE: 373 Route 46 west, Fairfield. 973 721-3120 or stumpysfairfield.com.

HOW MUCH: $20 per hour per person (two hour minimum for groups of five or more). No one under 21 admitted. BYOB rules: beer and wine only, maximum six-pack per person.

Escape Room NJ/Axehole's Hatchet House NJ

WHEN: 10 a.m. to midnight seven days a week. Reservations required.

WHERE: 157A Main St., Hackensack. 1-833 293-4653 or hatchethousenj.com.

HOW MUCH: $25 for two hours. All ages. No alcohol.

Bury the Hatchet

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Reservations required.

WHERE: 672 Bloomfield Ave., Bloomfield. 973-842-7725 or burythehatchet.com/bloomfield.

HOW MUCH: $39.99 for two hours. Age 15 and up.