Darts: a game where participants compete with one another by throwing small arrow like devices at a target that is round and has numbers and sections and an inner bull with an outer bull and so on. Darts now refer to the standard game with a specific bristle board design and a set of rules. Rules that are general to the game and rules that govern games like, “501,” “301,” and “Cricket.”


Darts is a traditional pub game that was and is commonly played in the United Kingdom as well as other places in Europe and across the pond here in the America’s.


Wikipedia tells hits history in a terse form, i.e., “The dartboard may have its origins in the cross-section of a tree. An old name for a dartboard is "butt"; the word comes from the French word but, meaning "target". In particular, the Yorkshire and Manchester Log End boards differ from the standard board in that they have no treble, only double and bullseye, the Manchester board being of a smaller diameter, with a playing area of only 25 cm across with double and bull areas measuring just 4 mm. The London Fives board is another variation. This has only 12 equal segments numbered 20, 5, 15, 10, 20, 5, 15, 10, 20, 5, 15, 10 with the doubles and triples being a quarter of an inch wide.”


There have been a variety of darts created over the years but the most common today is the tungsten dart. There are electronic darts but for this blog and for my efforts in tossing darts I remain a steel dart fan and enthusiast. I am recommending a book for novice darters but only because it appealed to me and my studies and rest assured most of the dart books out there are outstanding. In short, find one if this one does not fit your needs and get it. I can tell you when I started to play over twenty years ago, before I laid down my darts in 96, I tossed darts for several years without knowing some very important and critical mechanics, etc., of the dart game. As I take up once again my steel darts I have found a fountain of information to help make the game both enjoyable and competitive. Enjoy, diddle for the middle and let the darts fly!

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

DART ARTS: It's About the Thrill

Dart Arts Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

We have all heard people say it's about "the thrill of the chase or the thrill of the game" but for the first time I experienced the thrill of the toss.

The toss of the darts in some most awesome darts; mine, my partners and the team we were competing with in last nights league of the dart arts.

You really have to experience it to truly get that feeling and I understand now how addictive that can be.

I could feel that positive rush and the connection it makes with other dart'ists. I hesitate to say the worn out meme, "It was tantamount to good sex!" 

It was, dare I say, a seminal point as it marked my exceeding the skill level I had those many years past when I first took up the tungsten. In those days I was adequate and yet put away what I thought then as childish things. It was just a game.

Today, as a more mature dart'ist whose research has uncovered that the dart arts, are an art form equal to other sport oriented art forms like gymnastics, golf and martial arts.

It has its philosophy, it has its heritage and it has its physiokinetic principles that make it a real mental, physical and spiritual (not religious in nature but the spirit of competition, etc.) experience.

When I am in the zone, it has a meditative effect that allows me to toss the proverbial perfect dart(s). As I experienced tonight's dart art challenges I achieved a state of mind and body that was contentment; a placid state of contentment. It inspired me to seek enlightenment through the art of darts, to play to the perfection of the dart arts and the mastery of a dart'ist.

Feeling the excitement of the mutual connection brought about by good, solid, darts it opened the door to the next phase instilling that sense of achievement and accomplishment I sought when I decided to take up the arrows after over twenty-five years.



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