The Axe incident

Overview

The Axe Incident was a well known story from the development days of Quake at id Software in 1995. During development, programmer John Carmack used a large decorative axe to break down an office door and rescue fellow developer John Romero after he became trapped inside his office.

The event became one of the most famous anecdotes from the studio's early years and was later shown to visiting journalists, turning the broken door into a small piece of id Software folklore.

Background

In 1995, id Software was working on Quake at their office in Mesquite, Texas. Romero was programming the level editor QuakeEd late at night while listening to bands such as Great White, Ratt, and George Lynch.

At some point Romero attempted to leave his office but discovered that the doorknob had broken. The knob spun freely and the door would not open, effectively trapping him inside the room.

Needing to leave urgently, Romero called Carmack using the office phone extension system and explained the situation.

The Door Destruction

Carmack quickly came to Romero’s office to investigate. After confirming that the door mechanism had indeed failed, he decided the fastest solution was to physically break through the door.

Carmack retrieved a large custom axe that hung on the wall of the office. The axe reportedly cost around $5,000 and was mostly decorative.

Standing outside the door, Carmack began swinging the axe directly into the center of it.

The first swing punched a hole through the wood and sent fragments flying across Romero’s office.

Several more swings followed, each tearing away larger pieces of the door.

After roughly a dozen strikes, the middle of the door had been completely destroyed.

Because Romero had moved to the side of the room before the first swing, he avoided the flying wood fragments.

Once enough of the door had been removed, Romero climbed through the hole and ran to the bathroom while the rest of the team laughed at the scene.

The Famous Door

After the incident, Romero removed the damaged doorknob and the team eventually took the door off its hinges and placed it in storage.

The destroyed door quickly became a curiosity inside the studio. Visiting journalists who came to interview the developers often asked to see it, and several photos were taken of the team posing with the axe-damaged door.

For a time it was treated almost like a small relic of id Software’s chaotic early development culture.

Fate of the Door

Despite its fame among fans and journalists, the door was not preserved.

During an office remodel in 1996 the door was discarded and sent to the scrap heap. The artifact that had briefly become part of id Software lore was lost.

Legacy

The Axe Incident is frequently retold in interviews and retrospectives about id Software. It captures the informal, chaotic atmosphere of the studio during the era when Doom and Quake were being developed.

The destroyed door is often jokingly compared to the chainsaw from Doom in terms of its place in id Software mythology.