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Darts

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Dart board
Dart board

Darts is a game, or rather a variety of related games, in which darts are thrown at a circular target (dart board) hung on a wall. Though various different boards and games have been used in the past, the term 'darts' usually now refers to a standardized game involving a specific board design and set of rules.

As well as being a professional competitive sport, darts is a traditional pub game, commonly played in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, the United States and elsewhere.

Dart boards

Dart boards are usually made of sisal fibers and each section is lined with thin metal wire. The numbers indicating the various scoring sections of the board are normally made of wire, especially on tournament-quality boards, but may be printed directly on the board instead.

Height and distance

In the standard game, the dart board is hung so that the bullseye is 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) from the floor, and the oche (pronounced 'ock-ey'), or throwing line at which the player's foot is placed, is 2.37 m (7 ft 9.25 in) from the face of the board, though a few British pubs set it at 8 ft (2.44 m) or 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m).

History

Various different designs of dart board have been used in the past, and regional variations still exist in some parts of Staffordshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire. In particular, the Yorkshire board is identical to the standard board save that it has no treble ring and has a single, inner bull. The dartboard itself may have its origins in the cross section of a tree, although some historical records suggest that the first standard dartboards were the bottoms of wine casks, hence the game's original name of "butts". There is speculation that the game originated by soldiers throwing short arrows at the bottom of the cast or at the bottom of trunks of trees. As the wood dried, cracks would develope creating "sections". Soon regional standards emerged and many woodworkers supplemented bar tabs by fabricating dart boards for the local pubs.

The numbering plan known by many today has a 20 on top, however a great many other configurations have been used throughout the years and geographical locations. By most accounts, the numbering layout was devised by Brian Gamlin in 1896 to penalize innacuracy. Although this applies to most of the board, the left hand side (near the 14 section) is preferred by beginners, due to the concentration of higher value numbers. Mathematically, there are 19! (or 19 x 18 x 17 x ... x 1 = 121,645,100,408,832,000) different possible combinations of arrangement of the dart board's 20 sections. Using all possible permutations, one can find many different combinations that would penalize a player more than the current setup, however, the current setup actually does a rather efficient job of doing this.

Scoring

A bullseye

The standard dartboard is divided into twenty numbered sections, scoring from one point to 20 points, by wires running from the small central circle to the outer circular wire. Circular wires within the outer wire divide each section into single, double and triple areas.

Various quite different games can be played (and still are played informally) using the standard dart board. However, in the official game, any dart landing inside the outer wire scores as follows:

  • Hitting one of the large portions of each of the numbered sections, traditionally coloured black and yellow, scores precisely the points value of that section.
    • Hitting the thin outer portions of these sections, coloured red and green, scores double the points value of that section.
    • Hitting the thin inner portions of these sections, roughly halfway between the outer wire and the central circle and again coloured red or green, scores treble (or 3x) the points value of that section.
  • The central circle is divided into a green outer ring worth 25 points (usually known as the "bullseye" or "bull", and a red inner (usually know as the double-bullseye or double-bull) worth 50 points. The name "Bullseye" can apply to just the green outer ring, or sometimes the whole central circle depending on the board configuration and local custom.
  • Hitting outside the outer wire scores nothing.
  • Any dart which does not remain in the board after throwing (for example, a dart which hits a wire and bounces out of the board) also scores nothing. Variations on this rule exist - some judge that a dart which obviously hits a scoring section but then subsequently drops out will count if caught before it hits the floor.

The highest score possible from 3 darts is 180, which is obtained when all three darts land in the treble 20. In the televised game, the commentator frequently announces a score of 180 in exuberant style.

A selection of soft tip darts and components; included are brass, nickel/silver and nickel/tungsten bodies, various tips, and different shafts and flights

Soft tip boards and darts

A relatively new type of board is the soft tip board, which is made of plastic and cast with small holes (about .08 inches, or 2mm) in the face. The soft tip darts are, in general, lighter than the steel tipped darts, and have a lower maximum allowable weight. The soft tip darts have semi-rigid tapered plastic tips that will penetrate the holes cast in the board to a depth of about .25 inches (6 mm) before lodging securely in place. The darts may be removed from the board by a gentle twist and pull. While still dangerous, soft tip darts are less likely to cause serious injury if they hit a person, and are far less likely to damage items they hit if they bounce out of the board. Since the plastic tips are prone to chip, bend and break with use, even inexpensive soft tip darts are made with replaceable tips, and replacement tips are sold in quantity.

Other than the difference in maximum allowable weights of darts, soft tip dart rules are the same as those for steel tip darts. One big advantage of the soft tip dart for the recreational player is the availability of electronic boards that will detect and score each dart hit, and track the score of each player. Many of these electronic dart boards have dozens of different dart games and variations programmed in, and will even coach players about where their next throw should be aimed.

Playing darts

A game, or "leg", of darts is usually contested between two players, who take turns to throw up to three darts one at a time. Starting from a set score, usually 501 or 301, players must reduce their score to zero. The last dart in the leg must hit either a double or the inner portion of the bullseye and must reduce the score to exactly zero. Successfully doing so is known as "doubling out" or "checking out". A throw which reduces the score to one, or below zero, does not count, and the score is reset to what it was before that turn. As the double areas of the board are small, doubling out is usually the most difficult and tense part of a leg. Longer darts matches tend to be divided into sets, each set being comprised of a number of legs.

Although playing straight down from 501 is standard in darts, other variations exist, notably "doubling in" where players must hit a double to begin scoring, and all darts thrown before said double contribute nothing to a player's score. Other games are also commonly played which do not involve the usual scoring methods. These include "Round The Clock", in which players must hit each numbered section in turn to win, and the more complicated Cricket.

Professional organizations

Of the two professional organisations, the British Darts Organisation (BDO), founded 1973, is the oldest. Its tournaments are often shown on the BBC in the UK, and on SBS6 in the Netherlands. The BDO is a member of the World Darts Federation (WDF) (founded 1976), along with organisations in some 60 other countries worldwide. The BDO organises all British darts players, with the exception of a small group of professionals.

In 1994 a breakaway organisation was formed, influenced by Sky Television, currently known as the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) - in the Netherlands often televised by RTL5.

While the PDC tournaments often have a higher prize money, critics would say they are less prestigious than those organised by its traditional counterpart, the BDO.

Professional competitions

The WDF World Cup (for national teams) has been played bi-annually since 1977.

The main traditional event is the ben.

Amateur competition

Betting

On premises where alcohol is consumed, English law has long permitted betting only on games of skill, as opposed to chance, and then only for small stakes. An apocryphal tale relates that in 1908, Jim Garside, the landlord of the Adelphi Inn, Leeds, England was called before the local magistrates to answer the charge that he had allowed betting on a game of chance, darts, on his premises. Garside asked for the assistance of local champion William "Bigfoot" Anakin who attended as a witness and demonstrated that he could hit any number on the board nominated by the court. Garside was discharged as the magistrates found darts, indeed, to be a game of skill.

Famous Players

See also

Organisations

Equipment

History

Rules

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