DIVISIONS

Throwers have the option to choose to compete as Advanced or Amateur throwers. Division designations are manually made by the throwers in the WATL scoring App prior to Season 1 of the qualifying year and are locked into the selected division for the entire year. Division change requests can be made directly through WATL and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Any thrower who accepts a bid to the World Axe Throwing Championship will automatically be declared as Advanced for the following qualifying year.

Advanced

• Thrown under the Advanced ruleset in which the second half of each game is thrown from the 15′ fault line.
• Earns bids to the World Axe Throwing Championship via Pro League Status or Advanced leaderboard Circuit Points.
• Can only compete in Open tournaments.

Amateur

• Thrown under the Amateur ruleset where all throws in each game are thrown from the 12′ fault line.
• Earns bids to the World Axe Throwing Championship by placing at the Amateur Championship.
• Can compete in Open or Amateur tournament formats.

Division Changes

• Once a designation is locked in:
  • Throwers cannot move from Amateur to Advanced during an active season for ANY reason.
  • Throwers may request to move from Advanced to Amateur during an active season and WATL will review the requests on a case-by-case basis.
  • Throwers can request to move divisions between seasons and WATL will review requests on a case-by-case basis.
  • If throwers compete in 2 or more seasons as an Advanced thrower, they can request to switch to Amateur but will not be able to compete in the current year’s Amateur Championship.
• Should a division change be approved, ALL Circuit Points, bids, invites, or entries that were related to the original level are forfeited immediately. Should the thrower switch back to the original designation in the future, those points/bids/etc will NOT be reinstated.
• All division change requests must go through WATL and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. To request a division change, fill out this form.

WORLD AXE THROWING CHAMPIONSHIP

Approximately 12 bids in each discipline will be awarded at WATL’s discretion in order to meet the following goals. While regions no longer exist in a typical, bid-awarding capacity, representation from each region is still a priority and regional spread will be evaluated for the distribution of some or all of the WATL reserved bids. WATL wants to maintain global growth and will evaluate underrepresented regions, especially in areas of high potential. Additional bids may be granted to individuals to foster the continued development of the sport as a whole. 

Bids to the World Championship are awarded for each discipline following the process below.

256 Hatchet Bid Winners

WATC Hatchet will be played under Advanced rules only; there will be no split divisions.

• The Winner of the previous year’s WATC will earn the first bid as well as the first seed for the following WATC
• Automatic bids will be awarded to anyone who earns Pro League status in at least 2 league seasons within the qualifying year
  • Pro League is awarded to the top 128 throwers (by Season Rating) on the Advanced leaderboard each season
  • Leagues earning Pro status do not need to be consecutive to earn a bid
  • Season Rating is determined by the following formula:
    • [Hit Percentage* multiplied by 500]+[Average multiplied by 8]+[Inner kills hit multiplied by 2]
      • *Hit Percentage is defined as the number of 6s and 8s hit in the season divided by the total number of throws
      • Season Ratings will be determined for any thrower with 20 or more played games
• Additional Bids for WATC will be awarded to the following throwers
  • Top Circuit Point (CP) earners from WATL-sanctioned tournaments (minimum 32)
  • Top finishers at the Amateur Championship (minimum 12)
  • If additional bids are needed, these bids will be awarded to the highest-rated throwers (across all seasons within the qualifying year) who have not earned a Championship Bid.
• Up to 12 WATL reserved bids

128 (minimum) Big Axe Bid Winners

• The Winner of the previous year’s WATC will earn the first bid as well as the first seed for the following WATC
• 140 bids will awarded to the top CP earners
  • 50 bids will be awarded to the top overall CP earners
  • 40 bids will be awarded to the top 40 tournament-only Circuit Point earners who have not already qualified
  • 50 bids will be awarded to the top 50 league-only Circuit Point earners.
    • In the event multiple ties (more than 10) exist which would bring the total number of bids assigned to more than 60, that tie will be broken by the throwers’ cumulative league averages from the current, qualifying year
    • Any tied throwers who do not receive bids based on the tiebreaker will be the first in line for trickle-down bids
  • Any declines that would bring the total number of throwers below 128 will trickle first to:
    • The tied league CP throwers as outlined above followed by the top overall CP from all throwers who have not already received a bid
• Up to 12 WATL reserved bids

128 (minimum) Duals Team Bid Winners

• The Winner of the previous year’s WATC will earn the first bid as well as the first seed for the following WATC
• Bids for duals will automatically be assigned based on the highest CP-earning team for each player
  • EXAMPLE: If you have 90 CP with Partner A and 85 CP with Partner B, we will automatically assign the bid to the team with Partner A, and the team with Partner B will be removed from bid contention (unless Partner B has a second team which earns more CP)
  • If you throw with more than 1 partner, but you wish to have only 1 partner considered for worlds, you will be able to register with a specific team before bids are determined
• 140 bids will be awarded to the top CP earners
  • 30 bids will be awarded to the top overall CP earners
  • 50 bids will be awarded to the top 50 tournament-only Circuit Point earners who have not already qualified
  • 60 bids will be awarded to the top 60 league-only Circuit Point earners.
    • In the event multiple ties (more than 10) exist which would bring the total number of bids assigned to more than 70, that tie will be broken by the cumulative league average
    • Any tied teams who do not receive bids based on the tiebreaker will be the first in line for trickles
  • Any declines which would bring the total number of throwers below 128 will trickle first to the tied league CP team as described above and then to the top overall CP from all teams who have not already received a bid
• Up to 12 WATL reserved bids

CIRCUIT POINTS

• Most bids are awarded based on Circuit Points, which are earned from tournaments, leagues, and a combination of both
• Circuit Points are awarded to players for their top 3 CP earning leagues and also their top 3 CP earning tournaments in the year
  • Amateur Hatchet league CP is awarded to the FIRST 3 seasons of the year and counts towards placements in the Amateur Championship
  • Season 4 will count towards the following year’s total CP in the Amateur hatchet division
  • Advanced Hatchet league does not provide CP, as leagues in this division give straight bids to the World Championship
• All tournaments (regardless of tier) will provide CP based on the number of participants in each division (calculator linked below)
  • Each division/discipline, in any tier level, must have a minimum of 8 throwers or teams to be considered for bids or Circuit Points
  • Circuit points are awarded to the top 40% (ish) of finishers in each division as well as those above a certain league threshold average

TOURNAMENT CIRCUIT

Sanctioned WATL Tournaments are placed within a tiered tournament system. Each tier has specific requirements for the prize pool, rule set, and registrations.

All tiered tournaments (except for Tier 3s) must run 2 hatchet divisions, split between Open (played  on Advanced rules)  and Amateur brackets. Amateurs may register for either the Open OR Amateur Division, but not register for both at the same tournament. Advanced throwers may only register for the open division.

Seeding for all Amateur, Big Axe, and Duals tournaments is based on a rolling average of the previous year as well as any completed seasons from the current year. Those with no Big Axe or Hatchet averages will be given a seeding placement at approximately the 25th percentile. At the conclusion of the tournament, those without stats going in will be given an approximate, placeholder average for future events to be replaced once the thrower has completed a league season. Those with no Duals averages will use hatchet averages to determine seeding average. Advanced throwers will take their average minus 3, and Amateur throwers will take their average minus 5. These will then be averaged to create a placeholder Duals average for seeding purposes. 

Seeding for all Open division tournaments will be done by player rating instead of average once the first season of 2024 has concluded and will follow the above metric until that point. Amateur throwers joining the open division will have a rating calculated based on their amateur league scores with a proportional multiplier (determined by player statistics once Season 1 has been completed).

Each division and discipline hosted in any tier level must have at least 8 throwers or teams to be considered for Circuit Points in that division/discipline.

Major

Majors are the largest tournaments on the circuit. 

• The top 4 finishers in Amateur Hatchet will receive an automatic entry to later stages of the Amateur Championship as well as free entry (see Amateur Championship section below)
  • Bids do not trickle, any extra bids from multiple placements will be filled via Amateur Circuit Point standings
• Must host: Amateur Hatchet, Open Hatchet (Advanced rules for all participants), Big Axe, and Duals.
• Prize pool payout is a minimum of 50% of entry fees plus additional, added cash

Tier 1

These are potentially smaller than Majors, with smaller prize pool requirements. These tournaments will follow the same format as Majors, except no bids will be awarded to Amateurs. 

• Must host: Amateur Hatchet, Open Hatchet (Advanced rules for all participants), Big Axe, and Duals
• Prize pool payout is a minimum of 50% of entry fees plus $1,500 minimum added cash

Tier 2

Tier 2 tournaments have more than 48 throwers in Hatchet and are mandated to split the Hatchet tournament between Amateur and Open. They may host additional disciplines but are not required to do so. 

• Circuit points are awarded in all disciplines, based on the number of participants in that discipline
• Prize pool payout is a minimum of 50% of entry fees, with no added cash requirements

Tier 3

Tier 3 tournaments have 48 Hatchet throwers or less, or no Hatchet component at all. 

• 48 throwers or less in Hatchet
  • May host all or a selection of the 3 disciplines
• Hatchet may be thrown under one Open Division (played on Amateur rules)
  • This is the only time when the Open division may be played under the Amateur ruleset and the only time an Advanced thrower can compete under that ruleset
• Prize pool payout is a minimum of 50% of entry fees, no added cash is required

THE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

The Amateur Championship will be held near the end of the year and will award a minimum of 12 bids to 

the World Championship.

The format of the Amateur Championship is a 3 stage event, open to all amateur throwers. The stages of the Championship are outlined below.

• Stage 1- A completely open tournament following a standard double elimination format, played down to the top 96 throwers.
• Stage 2- A group stage in which the top 96 throwers from stage 1 and 24 throwers earning byes compete head to head in groups of 5. The top 2 throwers from each of the 24 groups move on to stage 3.
• Stage 3- A 64 person, double elimination tournament consisting of 48 throwers from stage 2 and 16 throwers earning byes. This round will crown a champion and award bids to WATC.

Byes into the later stages of the Amateur Championship are based on the following:

• All first place Major winners will earn byes to stage 3 along with the top 8 CP earners from those who placed 2-4 at one of the 8 majors.
  • Any declined bids will trickle to the next highest CP earner from those placing 2nd, 3rd, or 4th in a Major.
• All Those placing 2nd, 3rd, or 4th in any of the 8 Majors will be guaranteed a bye into stage 2. All remaining byes will be assigned to the registrants with the highest yearly CP totals.

WATL REGIONS

While regions no longer exist in a typical, bid-awarding capacity, representation from each region is still a priority and regional spread will be evaluated for the distribution of some or all of the WATL reserved bids. WATL wants to maintain global growth and will evaluate underrepresented regions, especially in areas of high potential.

The Greater North West: British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, Alaska

The Greater North East: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut

Pacific: California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada

Mountain: Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho

South: Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico

Midwest: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota

Atlantic: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee

East: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island

Global East: Hawaii, Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Asia

Global West: Mexico, Central America, South America, Africa, Europe