2022 WKTL Rules

2021 was a tremendous learning experience and we received a lot of great community feedback to build on in 2022.

This year will be another year of rapid growth for the sport of knife throwing.

There are very few changes going into 2022 and there are still more changes to make going forward. However, we believe these revisions will bring additional throwers to the sport and help build a strong foundation for future growth.

At WKTL, we can not wait to see what the new year has in store.

We have provided an archive of the 2021 Rules as a companion piece and to provide transparency of our changes.

The 2021 rules archive can be accessed through this link.

Below you will see some high level changes we have made ahead of the 2022 League cycle, but there are also some structural changes we have made to the rules – we recommend that all Affiliates, Judges and Throwers review the rules in full ahead of the new year.

League Minimums

• A WKTL Sanctioned League must have a minimum of 4 players.
  • WKTL affiliated venues may host more than one sanctioned league per season.
    • In each additional league must include 2 throwers that are participating in another league at the same location (not including Marathon League Throwers).
• Throwers may participate in as many sanctioned leagues as they wish, but only one league will be considered for World Championship eligibility.

Update to Absence Policy

• Venues will be able to make up their own lateness policy, but must maintain a 15 minute minimum grace period. 
• All League activity including make up matches/pre-throws, must be played on league nights.

Single Player Matches + Manual Matchmaking

• Throwers are limited to 8 single thrower matches each league season.
  • If it is necessary to play more than 8 single player matches per season due to extenuating circumstances, WKTL must be contacted in writing via email for approval.
  • If a Thrower records more than 8 single Thrower matches in a single season, without the prior approval of WKTL, all single matches after the 8th will be scored an automatic 0.
• Manual Matchmaking:
  • Any individual found manually creating matches that WKTL deems excessive (i.e. playing against the same person more than could be accounted for by the random matchmaking in the app) may be subject to disqualification of their scores in league, and nullification of any circuit points gained from that league.

New Fault Wording

1. In the case of a fault occurring, the throw will be marked as a fault in the app, resulting in a score of 0 for that throw.
2. A fault occurs when any of the following conditions are met, before both players scores are verbally expressed by the judge:
   1. a throwers foot crosses the respective fault line.
   2. any other part of the thrower’s body touches any part of the lane, equipment, or building, past the respective fault line and towards the target.
3. No throw will be taken without a verbal or gesture signal of an Open Lane from the presiding judge and confirmed by all throwers.
   1. If no signal is given or confirmation received, and a throw is made by a thrower, then that throw will count as a fault.
4. Each player must perform their throws in sync with the opposing player.
   1. For example, if a Player A throws the first knife, they must wait until the opposing player has thrown their first knife before throwing the second.
   2. The player that throws more than one knife before the opposing player is able will have that throw counted as a fault.
5. Individual throws must be taken within 10 seconds of each other.
   1. If a thrower throws after 10 seconds of the other throwers knife coming to rest, this will result in a Throw Fault.

Currently in the rules, it is throw 1 knife and retreive it, that will continue. But in future cases, if throwing multiple knives in a set:

1. A fault will result in the highest scoring knife in a set scored as a fault.
   1. If second fault occurs in the same set, the offending players second highest scored as a fault ect.
2. Throwers are notified of faults after the offending throw.

Marathon Leagues

1. Marathon Leagues may be held anytime during a WKTL League Season.
   1. Venues may host a maximum of two Marathon Leagues in any given season.

Qualifying for the World Knife Throwing Championships

The 2022 World Knife Throwing Championship will be comprised of 64 competitors:

• 1 2021 WKTC Champion
• 10 Top Leaderboard Throwers Per Season
• 6 Bids from the US Open
• 12 Bids from Open Qualifiers
• 5 Bids will be award to WKTL tournaments throughout the year

1. Scores for participants who have already earned a bid will not be considered to qualify for bids.
   1. Leaderboard bids will be passed to the next qualified thrower.
   2. If any of the top 6 qualifiers have already earned a bid in the 2022 season, the placement will not be passed down to subsequent participants.
2. The number of bids may change based on 2022 participation.