Bay Area Dart Enthusiast: Play the Board

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!

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Play the Board

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

It's a mind challenge in the dart arts. The mechanics, or physiokinetics, are the easy part and the hard comes in maintaining the mechanics in a consistent way while a constant barrage of external stimuli attacks you constantly.

the ebb and flow of the competitive environment.
The noise.
The rhythm and cadence of each dart'ist.
The all critical adrenal stress-conditions.
The durinal internal clock in relation to the time of the game.
The mind-set and more important mind-state at the oche line.

This is why I personally use the mind-state of playing the board. I approach the oche line observing the board and the scoreboard - my score only. I glance at the other score only to use that info to gauge what strategy I might take while maintaining control, I.e., I make sure I play my OWN game regardless.

I focus on the physiokinetics of MY game, I check the board and then I focus on tossing the perfect dart with perfect form letting the external distractions fade off into a place called, "Dev-null."

Develop a mind-ability that allows you to create a focus that places you and the board inside a vacuum-like bubble where you have the board, the scoreboard, the oche line, you and your darts then relax in a positive way so that your entire body along with the mind and spirit of a dart-ist can toss perfect arrows. This should be your destination in the training, practice and application of the dart arts.

Play the board, ignore the rest!

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