Playing Darts Is a Uniquely Democractic Exercise
The noble sport of darts remains a sore point for many professional athletes who would have pursued that career had they not been pushed by overly ambitious parents into more lucrative but less appealing work in football, baseball, or curling. The fact that it is practiced primarily in pubs, bars, taverns, and speakeasies around the world stems less from the limited space requirements of the game than the curious Anglo-American belief that a competition involving the hurling of sharp metal objects can only be improved by the consumption of large quantities of alcohol.
The origin of darts remains a bit murky, but most historians agree that it likely arose from bored soldiers seeking a way to pass their limited leisure time. This led them to toss their spears at the bottoms of barrels — presumably empty ale kegs. The barrels were later replaced by slices of large logs (called “butts”), a practice still employed by competitive knife and ax throwers. The tree rings found in the cross section of the logs were a natural delineation for scoring, giving rise to the current design of dart boards with their concentric rings and circular bulls eye in the center.
Of course, the true beginnings of the game centered on throwing the spears at human beings, but the practice was eventually discontinued in formal competition for a variety of reasons. These included the difficulty of establishing and maintaining a fixed throwing distance, challenges in standardizing scoring, and the limited durability of the targets before spoilage set in. But these foundations are likely the reason that players still regularly wind up getting stuck with a dart, and not only is this legal in most areas, but it is often considered a sign of friendly, spirited sportsmanship to toss one at your opponent.
For those who consider the sport to be nothing but an inane and slightly dangerous diversion for drunks, think again. According to the American Darts Organization, more than 20 million Americans either play casually or compete. One annual tournament in Las Vegas draws several thousand entrants vying for a substantial cash pool, and the largest such event in Chicago offers potential champions a shot at $57,000 in prizes. (Not a bad payday for one weekend’s drinking and tossing.)
So what, you might ask, does this have to do with the price of rice in China? The main thrust (if you’ll pardon the pun) is that, despite its British origins, the sport of darts has evolved into a uniquely democratic enterprise, symbolizing the nature of the American spirit. For starters, this is a sport offering a level playing field for just about anyone, as I have discovered through decades of competition. Unlike football or basketball, no great size or physical strength is required. (The darts weigh a few ounces and need only be thrown less than ten feet.) I have personally had my butt kicked in tournament play by a woman in a wheelchair.
Also, you don’t need the IQ of Stephen Hawking to compete at the top levels, as you do in largely mental games such as chess. (Regular readers had doubtless already figured this out upon learning that I was a competitor.) The scoring requires no more than simple addition and subtraction, and you can generally coerce someone else into doing it if you’ve had a few too many schooners of ale.
Brilliant. Well done sir! Unfortunately, I live in a blue state that has long since outlawed steel tips as “too dangerous”…barbarians!
Heh, funny stuf.
I am reminded of a game of chicken we used to play .. back.. way way back in my youth. Only this one was performed with the use of lawn darts. You and a bud(or enemy if such was the case.. like a Duel) would stand a bit apart 10-20 feet. Then one would toss a lawn dart into the air and try to land it as close as possible to the other.
However did not move and let the dart land the closest won. A test of manhood.. or stupidity now that I look back on it.
After playing steel tip many years in Atlanta and Dallas, I moved to N. Illinois and there’s only has “toy” darts, which I detest. I love playing darts. It really does take good hand eye coordination. I hated that my husband (even when blind drunk) was naturally good at it and that I, after many hours of practice, I could only manage to be average.
My Dad taught me to toss darts back in the mid 50′s. Steel tips, because that is all there was back in the day.
I started playing rubber darts in the early 90′s and prefer them. The 16gm weight limit changes the toss and makes for thinner darts, which make for tight groupings. My record for trip 20′s is 14 in a row. I can’t do that with big fat steel darts. Of course, most steel dart games are 301 or a variant. Rubber Darts is mostly cricket, so being able to pound a number is critical. You can put 3 rubber darts in the double bull, there isn’t enough room with steel darts to float that last one home. Plus the double bull spins and if you do it right, you can set 2 darts so they guide in the third instead of bouncing it up and into the single bull.
I played for the Triple Nickle bar in St. Pete for a couple of years. Won a national championship the year I was an alternate.
Used to play a slight variant at the frat house: You could only throw your darts when the other player was retrieving theirs. Amazingly, there were few injuries despite our intoxication. We became quiet accurate to prevent a counter-attack. I had to quit playing by those rules after I joined the Marines, and some of my friends’ girlfriends got a little too scared to play against me.
Whatever…limey wannabe…