Mid-City Axe Throwing Group Night Picker: College Reunion

A Mid-City axe throwing group night picker is for the friends who once shared a hallway, a meal plan and far too many late nights. College was years ago now. One person is a lawyer in Chicago, one has two kids in Pasadena, one changed careers twice and someone just moved back to Los Angeles. When a reunion finally comes together, it is easy to spend the evening swapping job titles and photos of houses. An axe throwing night skips the small talk. It puts everyone back on an even footing, a little awkward and a lot competitive, just like freshman year. Mid-City is a smart, central base for a group coming from all over the city and the airport. It sits between the museums on Wilshire, the restaurants of Little Ethiopia and the long, unpretentious stretch of Pico Boulevard. This guide covers how to plan the reunion night, run games that bring back old memories and end it with dinner and a walk.

Reunions often stall in the first hour. People stand around holding drinks, catching up on the basics, and the old energy takes a while to return. Giving the group a shared activity speeds that up. Within a few rounds of throwing, the inside jokes return, the old nicknames come back and the person who always talked trash in intramural games is talking trash again.

Axe throwing works because almost nobody has done it much. The former varsity athlete has no automatic advantage, and the friend who skipped every gym class might turn out to have perfect aim. It creates new stories to add to the old ones, which is what a reunion should do.

Reunion groups vary a lot. Some are just the original four roommates, others include partners and a few floor mates. For six to twelve people, two lanes side by side or a private area keeps everyone together. Ask whether a coach will stay with the group, since that keeps things organized while the friends catch up.

Ask about space to sit between turns. A reunion needs time to talk, and a lounge area or a high table near the lanes makes that easy. If partners or friends who do not want to throw are coming, check that they can join as spectators.

Mid-City works because it is roughly in the middle of everything. Friends coming from the Westside, the Valley, downtown or the airport can all reach it without crossing the entire city. Choose a meeting spot in advance, and give people a generous arrival window, because Los Angeles traffic has a way of rewriting plans.

Encourage carpools, especially for anyone flying in. Riding together is a nice chance to start catching up, and it saves the group from juggling parking at the end of the night.

Once the coach has finished the safety talk and everyone has thrown a few practice rounds, bring the old college energy to the lanes. Split into teams by old dorm floors, majors or the apartments people lived in senior year. The rivalry writes itself.

Try a memory lane round, where each thrower must share a favorite college story before their turn. If the axe sticks, the story enters the official reunion record. If it misses, the group gets to correct the details. Another good one is the superlatives round. Before throwing, the group assigns each person a yearbook-style award, like most likely to still have their college hoodie, and the thrower must defend or accept it with their throw.

The coach will walk everyone through the basics, and for most beginners that means using two hands. Grip the handle near the bottom, raise the axe above and slightly behind your head, then bring it forward in one smooth motion as you take a small step toward the target. Open your hands just as your arms line up with the board.

The axe should spin once and land blade first. When it bounces, the fix is usually distance, not strength, so move a step closer or farther and try again. Old friends love to coach each other, but it helps to agree that advice comes only after a throw. It saves a lot of teasing in the moment, and leaves room for plenty afterward.

Treat the coach's safety rules like a group agreement. Only the person whose turn it is stands at the target, nobody steps forward until both axes have landed, and retrieval happens together. If drinks are on offer, keep them on the tables and well back from the lanes.

Reunion energy can get loud and distracted, especially once the stories start. Keep conversations behind the line and away from the person throwing. It keeps the night safe, and nobody wants their reunion story to be the wrong kind of memorable.

After throwing, head to Little Ethiopia on Fairfax Avenue for dinner. The short stretch of Ethiopian restaurants and coffee shops is perfect for a reunion, because the meals are built for sharing. Large platters arrive with stews and vegetables spread over injera, and everyone eats from the same plate, tearing off pieces of bread and passing them across the table.

Eating this way slows the night down and brings people closer. It is a natural place to talk about the things that matter now, careers, families and dreams, and to laugh at how different and how similar everyone still is. If someone has never tried Ethiopian food, the group can teach them together.

If the group still has energy, walk or drive a short way to Museum Row on Wilshire Boulevard. The area around the museums and the park by the tar pits has wide sidewalks and lit public art that make for a pleasant evening stroll. Take a group photo, the kind that will replace the old dorm photo on everyone's phone.

Walking side by side often brings out the best conversations of the night. Friends drift into pairs, reconnect one on one and make plans to visit each other.

Reunions can feel like a single bright night followed by another few years of silence. Avoid that by setting the next date before everyone leaves. Choose a city, a season or a new activity, and make one person responsible for kicking off the planning.

Share the photos and the official reunion record of stories in the group chat. Many friend groups find that a yearly axe night becomes a tradition that is easy to remember and fun to look forward to.

Karpo can take some of the work out of planning a reunion. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for axe throwing lanes, Ethiopian restaurants in Little Ethiopia or easy evening walks near Museum Row, then use the suggestions to build a plan and confirm details with each venue. It leaves more energy for the reunion itself.