2025 Urban Open

Jones cup & Skills Event Rules

Jones Cup & Skills will take place on Friday evening, August 1st to kick off the 2025 Urban Open. We are offering individual, doubles, and team events, with a wide variety of skill throws and match formats represented.

Event schedule

1-5pm: Practice Hours

Come in early and warm-up for the weekend! The bar will be open and we'll have an arena set aside for Urban Open competitors.

Click here to reserve your practice space!

5pm: Check-in/Warm-ups

A 5pm practice hour will be available for all Jones Cup & Skills event competitors, so be sure to arrive early and warm-up all of the skill throws you'll be utilizing that evening.

6pm: Jones Cup Group Stage

7:15PM: Jone Cup Single-Elimination Bracket*

8PM: Red, Blue, & White*

9:15PM: variety Show Yahtzee*

10:15Pm: Jones Cup & Skills Finals*

The finals of all 3 events will take place back-to-back, progressing from Jones Cup through Red, Blue, & White and Variety Show Yahtzee finals. Finalists should plan to stay through the end of the evening in order to participate in finals.

*All Skills times are approximate and are intended to give you an idea of order and our best estimate of timing.  Apart from the first skill, if an event starts early and you’re not present, you will forfeit, so please plan to be early, hang out, and have fun!

Jones Cup

Jones Cup is a mixed team competition using IATF Premier Rules scoring. There are two stages to Jones Cup: Round Robin and Single Elimination Tournament.

Each match between two mixed-gender teams consists of three rounds:

• Singles round 1 (best of 5 throws)
• Singles round 2 (best of 5 throws)
• One mixed doubles round (best of 5 throws)

The thrower with the lower 12-month IATF average always throws Singles Round 1. 12-month IATF Premier average will be the default comparison, but if one or both players only have 12-month Standard averages, this can as be used for comparison as well. Each team is responsible for checking their averages and ensuring they play in the correct order. If a team is found to be playing out of order (their higher average player is throwing in Singles Round 1), they will be disqualified immediately. Please check with nathan@urbanaxes.com if you are unsure of which teammate should throw in Singles Round 1 for your team.

 Throwers with no IATF average but who have a WATL average should calculate a proportional IATF average by divding their 12-month WATL average by 64 and then multiplying by 81.

The player or team leading going into the 5th throw, throws first. Clutches are live on the 5th throw of each round and must be called. If there is a tie, IATF League rules apply regarding calling Clutch, bullseyes, or electing to wait for their opponent to throw before making a call.

In the mixed doubles round, one or both teammates may call Clutch on the fifth throw.

• Teammate “A” calls and throws for Clutch and teammate “B” throws a point value within the standard target, or teammate “A” and “B” both call and throw for Clutch.

If one of the two axes thrown sticks into the handle of the other, known as a ‘Robin Hood’, the thrower is rewarded the points scored by the axe it is stuck into the target.

Round Robin Format

The competing teams are randomly separated into Round Robin Groups of four teams, and they face-off against each of the other three teams in their group in a round-robin format – each team plays 3 matches in their Round Robin Group. The top two teams in each group progress from the Round Robin stage of the event to the Single Elimination Tournament stage. All Round Robin matches are played for a Group are played back-to-back – teams should not go anywhere until all three matches have been played!

Starting lane is determined by Rock, Paper, Scissors, with teams alternating sides between rounds once the lane has been picked by the winner.

Teams receive 3 practice throws before their first match and 1 practice throw before each subsequent match.

Round Robin Scoring

In the Round Robin phase, teams score Jones Points based on number of rounds won.

• Winning a singles round is worth 2 Jones Points.
• Tying a singles round is worth 1 Jones Point.
• Winning the doubles round is worth 4 Jones Points.
• Tying the doubles round is worth 2 Jones Points.

In the event two teams tie on the same amount of Jones Points at the end of the Round Robin phase, the following factors (in order) will be used to separate the teams:

1. The highest cumulative axe score during the Round Robin.
2. The highest number of Premier Clutches in Singles rounds during the Round Robin.
3. The highest number of touch Clutches in Singles rounds during the Round Robin.
4. Head-to-head performance.
5. Doubles Big Axe.

Single Elimination Tournament Format

Teams will be seeded for the Single Elimination Tournament based off the following factors (in order):

1. The highest Jones Points from Round Robin
2. The highest cumulative axe score during Round Robin
3. The highest number of Premier Clutches in Singles rounds during the Round Robin.
4. The highest number of touch Clutches in Singles rounds during the Round Robin.
5. Rock, Paper, Scissors

In the Single Elimination Tournament phase, teams compete head-to-head following the same match format and Jones Points as the Round Robin phase, with ties being allowed per round. If the teams are tied on Jones Cup Points after all three rounds (one singles win, one singles loss, one tie; two singles losses, one doubles win; or three ties), Doubles Big Axe is the tie breaker.

In a Doubles big-axe tiebreaker both throwers must throw their big-axe at the same time at the same target for each throw:

• Teams receive one Big Axe practice throw on their first tiebreaker of the tournament and no practice throws in subsequent Big Axe tiebreakers.

• All axes that stick in the target are awarded points accordingly:

  • Team “A” throws their first throw at the same time.

  • One axe lands in the 3 and one axe lands in the 5, giving them a combined score of 8 for that throw.

• Points are live on every throw.

  • Team A scores a combined score of 8 on their first throw

  • Team B scores a combined score of 6 on their first throw

    • Team A wins that match

  • Team A & Team B both score 6 on their first throw. The match is still tied and both teams throw again

• Each team member must “bull in” before Clutch can be called.

  • Player 1 hits a bull & Player 2 hits a 3.

  • Player 1 is then eligible to call “Clutch” on throw 2

  • Player 2 must aim for the bullseye again as they have not “bulled in.”

    • Once Player 2 hits a bullseye, Clutch is then available to both throwers.

  • After “bulling in,” Player 1 may call Clutch even if Player 2 has not bulled in.

• If one of the two axes thrown sticks into the handle of the other, known as a ‘Robin Hood’, the thrower is awarded the points scored by the axe it is stuck into.

If a round goes “out of reach” in the Single Elimination Tournament, the round is over.

Red, Blue & White

Red, Blue, and White is an individual skill where throwers have 15 throws to “close” three areas of the target by touching the red line, the blue line, and white Premier Clutch box.

Rules

• The red line, blue line, and white Premier Clutch box must be closed in this order. Throws that touch the blue line do not count until the thrower has closed the red line, and throws that touch the white Clutch box do not count until the thrower has closed the red and blue lines.

  • A target is considered “closed” when the line or box has been scored 3 times.

• Throwers begin the game by electing to throw Overhand, 1.5 Rotation, or Underhand.

  • 1.5 rotation can only be thrown with one hand due to safety concerns.

• Overhand throws count for 1 pt if they strike a target area.

  • 3 Overhand throws are needed to close each target area.

• 1.5 rotation throws count for 2 pts if they strike a target area.

  • 2 1.5 rotation throws are needed to close each target area.

• Underhand throws count as 3 pts if they strike a target area.

  • 1 Underhand throw is needed to close each target area.

• Throwers choose one throw to begin the game with, but they may change throws strategically within the game.

  • Throwers can begin on Single Rotation, then switch to 1.5 rotation, and then to Underhand, but they may not reverse this progression.

  • If you start on 1.5 rotation, you can only switch to Underhand. If you start on Underhand, you must throw Underhand the whole game.

• Points are cumulative. For example, if a thrower is throwing Overhand and strikes the red line once, this counts as 1 pt. They then switch to 1.5 rotation and strike the red line again, scoring 2 pts. Cumulatively, they have scored the red line 3 times and may advance to the blue line.

• The blade of the axe must be breaking the plane of the painted line at the surface of the target to count as “touching paint,” i.e. how Standard touch Clutches are scored.

Format

• Red, Blue, and White will be played in heats of 3 or 4 throwers, with the top 1-2 throwers advancing from each heat, depending on time and round numbers.

• Players have 15 throws to progress through red, blue, and white in order and are ranked by how many throws it took to close all 3 target areas.

  • Least number of throws in first, most number of throws in last.

• Even if 1 or 2 throwers have already completed Red, Blue, and White and secured their spot in the next heat, the remaining throwers may continue the heat until they compete the 3 target areas or their 15 throws elapse, whichever comes first.

• If no one completes all 3 target areas within 15 throws, throwers are ranked by how many hits they achieved on each target area.

  • Thrower A completed 3 pts on red, 3 pts on blue, and 1 pt on white.

  • Thrower B completed 3 pts on red, 2 pts on blue, and 0 pts on white.

  • Thrower A ranks first, while Thrower B ranks second.

• If two or more throwers complete Red, Blue, and White in the same number of throws (or have the same non-finishing score as described above), they will compete in a tiebreaker.

  • This only applies if the tie is for a position that advances to the next heat. If the tie is between two throwers in third, no tiebreaker is needed as they do not advance.

Tiebreaker

• The tiebreaker for Red, Blue, and White begins with a Bull-Off, then moves to a Clutch-Off if needed.

• Each thrower must use the throw with which they finished their Red, Blue, and White heat.

  • Thrower A finished the White target area with an Overhand throw.

  • Thrower B finished the White target area with an Underhand throw.

  • Thrower A throws Overhand for the Bull-Off, Thrower B throws Underhand.

• Each thrower aims for a bullseye.

  • These throws are not scored as normal. They are either successful or unsuccessful.

  • Bullseyes are scored by Standard rules, i.e. majority scoring applies.

• If one thrower hits and the others miss, that thrower is declared the winner.

  • If more than 2 throwers are competing and only one is unsuccessful, the thrower that missed is eliminated and the tiebreaker continues for the other competitors.

• If all throwers miss, they throw again.

• If all throwers hit, they throw again.

• If all throwers hit three times in a row, it switches to Clutch-Off

• Clutch-Off follows the same format as the Bull-Off. Each throw is either successful or unsuccessful.

  • If all throwers hit, they switch to the opposite Clutch from the one they just threw, i.e. if Thrower A hit a left Clutch, their next throw should be at right Clutch.

• Continue until a winner emerges.

Strategy

• Throwers that start on Underhand begin with an advantage.

  • It only takes 3 successful throws to close all 3 target areas with an Underhand throw.

  • However, Underhand throwers may fall behind if they miss their initial throws and they cannot change to a more straightforward throw like Overhand.

• Throwers that start on Overhand must take longer to complete their initial throws.

  • It takes 9 successful throws to close all 3 target areas with an Overhand throw.

  • Overhand throwers also have a greater chance they will close all 3 target areas.

  • If they begin to falter and realize they cannot close all 3 target areas before their 15 throws run out, they can choose to switch to 1.5 rotation or Underhand.

    • These throws may be more challenging, but they also take less throws to close each target area, affording the thrower more time to still close all 3 target areas.

Variety Show Yahtzee

Yahtzee is a four-player team competition in which all throwers must accomplish set throwing goals to receive points. Throwers will sign up for Variety Show Yahtzee as a team.

• Standard device and board change rules apply, clutches are live throughout.

• Throwers select their lane amongst each other and must stay in that lane for the duration of the competition.

• Throwers select the type of throw they will be doing amongst each other and must continue with that throw for the duration of the competition.

  • One thrower will throw Premier hatchet.

  • One thrower will throw 1.5 rotation.

  • One thrower will throw Underhand.

  • One thrower will throw Big Axe.

• In Yahtzee, there is a three-attempt rule, meaning, throwers will have three attempts to accomplish each throwing goal:

  • Each throwing goal has a maximum point value that is only awarded if every thrower hits their goal on their first attempt:

    • Every individual missed attempt will be a ten-point (-10) deduction regardless of whether the team completes the throwing goal or not.

• The throwing goals are as follows:

  • 1’s - Each thrower must stick the axe in the 1-point area, worth 100-points;

  • 3’s - Each thrower must stick the axe in the 3-point area, worth 300-points;

  • Bulls - Each thrower must stick the axe in the 5-point area, worth 500-points;

  • Zeros – Each thrower must stick the axe in a 0-point area, worth 600-points:

    • The 0-point area is any area worth zero points, but stuck into the 2x10 target boards:

      • A reminder that Clutches are live and will not count as a zero-point area.

  • Straight – Each thrower selects one of the following point areas for which to throw: 1, 3, 5 or Clutch, worth 700-points;

  • Clutches – Each thrower must stick the axe in the Clutch, worth 1000-points.

Scoring

The following are examples of how Yahtzee scoring works:

• Teams cumulative score through all six throwing goals is divided by 10 and added to their team total.