Middletown could be the hatchet-throwing capital of Delaware as second venue planned

By fall, Middletown could be the hatchet-throwing capital of Delaware.

With plans for one venue, Stumpy's Hatchet House, already set to open by the end of the year, a group of seven investors didn't think twice about putting another in one of the fastest-growing areas of the state.

Giant Dream Productions plans to open a combination escape room/hatchet-throwing venue in October that will offer 10 ax-throwing lanes, five escape rooms and a party area. 

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A conditional use permit to turn an existing amusement/athletic facility at 120 Patriot Drive into Project Escape/Camp Hatchet was approved at the August Middletown council meeting.

"Our due diligence showed Middletown is a high-growth area that also is the right demographic for us," said partner Dennis Shea. "It seems to be the premier suburb destination for young families with many other new businesses moving there as well."

Shea said that with so many young people, Middletown can be a real entertainment destination offering the kind of new choices that people go to Philadelphia, Wilmington or Baltimore for.

"We are putting it right here in your backyard," Shea said. 

Shea's group believes Middletown is big enough to support two ax-throwing venues.

"It's like having more than one great restaurant in the community," Shea said. "It is a bonus to have an explosion of new choices for food and entertainment for families."

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Project Escape/Camp Hatchet will differ from Stumpy's by including escape rooms, and also by allowing kids age 12 and older to throw hatchets in the business designed to have an '80s camp feel.

Ax-throwing businesses allow people to throw axes provided by the venue at a set of targets in enclosed throwing pits.

Partner Phil Nannay described the escape room experience as a puzzle-solving adventure where you have to solve physical and electronic puzzles to open doors.

"It's a live-action board game where you have to work together to win," he said.

Their escape rooms will include a pirate room, a magician's room and one that will feature a famous Disney holiday movie. The room themes likely will change annually.

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"You can have all of the best rides in the world at an amusement park, but once people have done them over and over, you have to change it up," he said. 

Reach Jerry Smith at jsmith17@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JerrySmithTNJ.