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, May 9, 2017

DART ARTS: The Pub Venue

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

It is strange that in years past it never occurred to me that darts is played exclusively in pubs, bars and bowling 🎳 alleys and, this is the part of which I speak, the game for the venue is about selling alcoholic drinks 🍹- duh, Homer Simpson head slap 👋🏼.

If you are a non-drinker, like me, are you welcome and how do the proprietors feel about your playing and not drinking? That and it puts a whole new light on playing darts 🎯 when it is just another income generator where if non-drinkers start to become the majority then why allow darts in the pub?

In days past I was definitely in a minority so small the pub owners did't care because it was known that the drinkers would have non-drinking friends.

Putting the pub owner hat 🎩 on would I want my place of 'business' to allow people who didn't spend money 💰 to just use my place to play a discipline that didn't also generate income? Nope 👎, I would not. I understand the situation and feel bad 😔 that this never occurred to me in the first place. This is especially important if the pub does not serve food, etc., other than drinks. After all, pubs is indicative of drinking and both pool and darts were venues to pull in clientele who - you guessed it - "Drink."

Darts is both a competitive and social discipline thus ideal for pubs to pull in 'paying' customers.

All this and more begs the question, "If a non-drinker should I be playing the game especially since it is done exclusively in pubs, bars and bowling alleys?

This question takes on greater importance when those who participate as non-drinkers start to become a majority as that as an adverse effect on the business.

Personally, I feel bad 😔 because I am a non-drinker and since most d'artists I play with in the league don't drink should I still participate and should the proprietors allow us to participate? I would understand and support them asking us non-drinkers to not use their pubs.

I wonder if a moderate cover charge were imposed at the door 🚪 would alleviate things so we non'ers could still toss darts? I wonder, is there some other way the d'arts could continue outside the pub venue?

I have been racking my mind for alternatives that would keep darts alive but to date have had no success. I am asking myself if I should give it up simply to abide by pub needs toward making the business viable?

Should I ask the pubs where the darts are played if they have a drink minimum requirement and if not don't play there?



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