2026 Urban Open!
Get ready to step your game up! Our Grand Slam Urban Open is back for another year! Mark your calendar July 31st-August 2nd.
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2026 Urban Open
July 31st- Aug 2nd
Tickets for Open and Swiss on sale June 18th!
Skills, Marathon, And After Party on sale July 2nd!
Meet Your Weekend!
Friday July 31st
Saturday August 1st
Sunday August 2nd
Eat, Sleep, Throw
Urban Open and Swiss on sale June 18th @ 6pm
Jones Cup, Skills, and Marathon on sale July 2nd @ 6pm
Friday July 31st
Friday, July 31st | Practice: 8:30 AM | Matches: 9 AM
Back by popular demand... we will kick off the Urban Open weekend with marathon leagues starting on Friday, July 31st! Meet up with axe friends from all over and enjoy a full league season's worth of practice before the tournaments begin. We're offering both a Standard Marathon (for those with a 12 month average of 65 and under) AND a Premier Marathon (open to anyone).
Keeping the Standard Marathon cap at Under 65 allows us to offer two skill tiers and cater to more players. We need a minimum of 12 members to run each marathon league, and everyone will make the playoffs (even if we have more than 16 throwers!)
Standard Marathon:
20 IATF Standard Rules matches + Playoffs
Under 65 Avg: Throwers must have a 12-month IATF Standard Average under 65 pts. to register for the Standard Marathon League
To check your 12-month average, visit your Axescores player profile and find the "Player Performance" widget; you can then select the "IATF Standard" ruleset from the drop down and filter for "Last 12 Months" to view your 12-month IATF Standard average.
Premier Marathon:
20 IATF Premier Rules matches + Playoffs
Open Registration: Throwers of any average may register.
Marathon Leagues
$105 (+$8 IATF Fee)
Practice opens at 5pm for Jones Cup and Skills
Jones Cup
Friday, July 31st | Evening | 6PM
Round 1: Singles, best of 5 throws
Round 2: Singles, best of 5 throws
Round 3: Mixed doubles, best of 5 throws
All rounds will be scored under IATF Premier Rules
Jones Cup features two stages: a Group Stage and a Single Elimination Bracket. Teams are randomly placed in groups of 4 and face-off against each of the other 3 teams in their group in a round-robin format. Each team plays 3 matches in their Round Robin group before any elimination occurs. The top two teams in each group progress from the Group Stage of the event to the Single Elimination tournament, and the winners are crowned the Jones Cup King and Queen!
Jones Cup is a unique doubles format featuring mixed gender teams, and each match between two teams consists of three rounds:
$70 per Team
Skills
In Blackjack, the object of the game is to score as close to, or exactly, 21 points without going over, also known as “busting”.
Competitors will have 7 throws to get as close to 21 as possible. Competitors must throw all 7 throws UNLESS they hit Lucky 7 Jackpot described below.
On the first throw all throwers MUST throw for clutch. If a player misses clutch, clutch is closed for the remainder of the game. If player hits clutch successfully, they can choose to go for clutch again, or go back to the target.
If a player chooses to go for clutch again and hits it successfully on their second AND third throw, they have hit the Lucky 7’s jackpot. They do not need to complete the rest of their throws and may remain safe at 21. If either clutch is missed, clutch is closed immediately for the remainder of the game.
All throws must be overhand and 1.5 rotations. This type of throw should be thrown with one hand, but throwers may choose to throw it two handed at their own risk.
Clutches thrown after clutch is closed will NOT be counted (i.e. they will count for 0 points). Clutch does not need to be called on the first throw but must be called on 2nd or 3rd throw if the thrower hits their first throw Clutch and chooses to go for it.
Any thrown axe that does not stick in the target receives a score of negative four (-4)
As opposed to standard competition there is no device used, rather, the only throws that score points must be 100% in a single point area.
All cluthes will be judged by Standard Clutch rules, NOT Premier Clutch rules.
Paint is still in your favor:
Lucky 7's 1.5 Rotation Blackjack
Friday, July 31st | After Jones Cup
Zeros will be awarded accordingly for axes stuck either between two-point areas or successfully stuck in a zero-point area on the 2”x10”
Tie Breaker
Axes that may stick in the plywood backboard outside of the 2”x10” target boards will receive a score of negative four (-4) similar to a dropped axe
If a player busts by breaking the score of 21, they are automatically disqualified at that time. This means they cannot follow up with a deliberate dropped axe to score negative four (-4) after they have busted to bring their score back below 21 or You bust, you’re out!
Dropping an axe deliberately while approaching a score of 21 to score a negative four (-4), however, is allowed
When a winner must be determined in the case of multiple competitors finishing with a tied highscore, a 1.5 rotation tie breaker will take place. Each player competing in the tie breaker must throw 3 throws to get as close to 7 as possible.
All the same scoring rules apply to the tie breaker as in standard Blackjack competition. Clutch is open on the third and final tie breaker throw and does not need to be called. Accidental Clutches thrown on throws 1 & 2 will NOT count. Accidental Clutches thrown on the 3rd throw WILL count, without being called.
The game will be played in heats of 4 throwers, advancing 1 or 2 players from each round as appropriate. Tie breakers are only required if breaking the tie will decide who advances and who is eliminated. If the tie is between two advancing throwers or two throwers who will not be advancing, no tie breaker is needed.
$20
Variety Show Yahtzee (Team Skill)
This event features teams of 4 trying to score 6 specific areas of the IATF target.
Round 1: 1 point ring
Round 2: 3 point ring
Round 3: Bullseye
Round 4: Zero (Blades must stick in zero point region of the 3 target boards)
Round 5: Straight (Players must elect to throw either a 1, 3, 5, or Clutch)
Round 6: Clutch
Friday, July 31st | After Lucky 7's
Teams receive points when all 4 players successfully hit the target area for the round within 3 throws. Each missed attempt by an individual player loses 10 points, and if any player misses the target area 3 times in a row, the team scores no points for that round.
Variety Show Yahtzee adds the additional fun and challenge of assigning each player a different throw they must use in all 6 rounds. Teams will throw Big Axe, Underhand, 1.5 rotation, and Premier hatchet, with one player of the team assigned to each type of throw.
At the end of the game, the points and deductions accumulated by each team are used to calculate their final score and rank them among all the teams competing. The top 2 teams will play again in the event finals.
$60 per Team
Day 2
Saturday August 1st
Urban Rules Tiered Swiss
Saturday, August 1st | All Day
This one-of-a-kind tournament is comprised of three elements that require some explanation, so let's break it down.
Tiered Tournaments
All throwers competing in Urban Rules Tiered Swiss tournaments will buy the same ticket and register for the same event. Throwers will then be ranked by their IATF average; 12-month Standard and Premier averages will be adjusted for comparison and throwers with both averages will be ranked by the higher of their two averages. For WATL throwers, we will calculate an equivalent IATF average for use in this ranking.
The resulting average ranking is used to split the players into their respective tiers, and the number of tiers and how many throwers are in each will be determined by the amount of registrations we receive for this event.
We've found our Tiered Tournaments to be some of the most exciting and popular events at the Urban Open and other Urban Axes tournaments. We believe they represent one of the best ways to make sure that ALL levels of throwers can experience a competitive tournament environment, and we all love cheering on throwers as they experience the thrill of appearing in their first tournament finals.
Urban Rules
As their name suggests, the Urban Rules Tiered Swiss tournaments are played under Urban Rules, our scoring system which combines elements of the IATF Premier and Standard rulesets. We introduced Urban Rules with the goal of allowing throwers of differing ability levels to throw together under the same ruleset at our events. We've run many Urban Rules tournaments and made updates to the ruleset thanks to the feedback of throwers at the Urban Open and other events.
The key differences in Urban Rules are the 2, 4, and 6 point values it introduces into the target. A Premier bullseye remains 5 points, but an axe that crosses the black line between a bullseye and a three receives 4 points. Similarly, a blade crossing the red line between the three and one receives 2 points. For Clutches, a touch Clutch scores 6 points and a Premier Clutch scores 7 point. For clarification on scoring check out Urban Rules.
Swiss Tournaments
Urban Swiss is a tournament format we've hosted at many Urban Axes events over the past few years. This format allows us to provide more matches to all the throwers that enter. Urban Swiss is a two-stage tournament comprised of a Round Robin and a Single Elimination Bracket.
The Round Robin portion of the Swiss format is non-eliminating, so everyone who enters is guaranteed to play a set minimum number of matches; this number is dependent on registrations, but we aim for a minimum of 5 matches per player. No more 0-2! The Swiss format is also self-leveling, so opponents in each round will have the same (or a very similar) win/loss record, offering more evenly skilled matches as the Swiss tournament progresses.
Our Swiss tournaments will be divided into brackets of up to 32 players, which allows us to finish the Round Robin with 1 undefeated competitor from each bracket. Players are then ranked by their 1) Match Wins/Losses, 2) Rounds Won, 3) TB (Tiebreaker), and 4) Rounds Lost, with the top throwers advancing to a Single Elimination bracket. We then play through the Single Elimination bracket until a champion from each tier is crowned!
Morning and Afternoon Sessions
We want to accommodate as many throwers as possible in our Urban Rules Tiered Swiss tournaments and will likely run morning and afternoon Swiss sessions as we did the past two years of this event.
Once we know how many throwers will be competing, we will split the field as appropriate and notify everyone of the timeslot and tier in which they will be throwing. Some throwers will arrive early but have the afternoon off to relax, and some throwers will have the morning off and will play in the afternoon and evening. The morning and afternoon sessions will allow us to include the most throwers with less overcrowding while still providing everyone more matches for their money! The tournament finals for all tiers will take place after the afternoon Swiss session has concluded, so all throwers that advance will need to be present Saturday evening.
$130
Day 3
Sunday August 2nd
Urban Open
Sunday, August 2nd | Daytime
This is the flagship event of the tournament weekend and the one that started it all. The Urban Open will be played as a random-seeded, double elimination tournament. The tournament begins on Sunday morning, and we will work our way through the bracket until we reach the finals in the late afternoon. This event will be scored under IATF Premier Rules but is open to throwers of all ability levels. It presents a great opportunity to experience the scale and challenge of a major tournament like the International Axe Throwing Championship but in an open tournament with no qualification required.
In addition to prize money, the winner of the Urban Open receives the Clutch Jacket and joins the ranks of throwers such as Stefan Herda, Mike Kump, Shane Shep, Joe Nessler, Cameron Dubrow, Will Gelatko, and Dave Alviso. It's a coveted trophy representing a significant accomplishment, and you could be the one to wear it home this year!
$120
After Party
Southern Provisions
We will be celebrating at one of our favorite spots, Southern Provisions. After party will be 7pm - 2am. More details to come.
Accommodations
Tru Hotel
We have partnered up again with Tru Hotel to offer a discounted rate of $144 for rooms booked July 31st - August 3rd.
*Discount rate only valid until July 3rd
Vendor Tables, Food, & Merch
Check back for more info
Contact
Questions? Reach out anytime!
EMAIL hello@urbanaxesbaltimore.com
PHONE (240) 389-2937
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Urban Axes is a founding member of the International Axe Throwing Federation