from AFP via Yahoo!
<h1″>Hatchet throwing a new pastime in America

by Thomas URBAIN

Eatontown (United States) (AFP) – What better, safer way to have fun than drink beer and throw a hatchet?

This is now a thing in America, a new pastime, and it’s spreading.

On a busy Friday night at Stumpy’s Hatchet House in New Jersey, it sounds like this: the thud of the blade sticking into a wooden target, people cheering a good toss, and a bell ringing out when somebody scores a bull’s eye.

Its four founders say this place, which opened 18 months ago, is the first of its kind in the US, although Canada is generally considered the cradle of competitive hatchet-hurling.

Such spots are now found in Chicago, Washington, Nashville and Denver, among other US cities.

Stumpy’s owners are talking about opening another elsewhere in New Jersey and have even started offering franchise arrangements. They hope to have a network of 15 within a year.

“This is the next bowling,” said Kelly Josberger, a former elementary school principal aged 51 who decided to change careers. Like her three partners, she had never before run a business.

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