by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
With poker tournaments and billiards matches being televised in the United States almost as frequently as basketball these days, fans of another traditional bar room game are asking an obvious question.
What about darts?
While all three games have been televised heavily in Europe for several years, darts is the only game that is only rarely seen on American networks. Some local dart enthusiasts, however, say the popular bar game might soon find its way out of the pub and onto American television.
Gary Newman, an avid dart player and manager of the Billiard Factory in Orange Park, said the popularity of darts in this country would skyrocket if tournaments were televised here.
“It darts were on TV, it would take off just like the poker thing has taken off,” Newman said. “It becomes the cool thing to do when you see celebrities doing something.”
However, Newman said he has already seen a recent popularity boost for darts. At the Billiard Factory, a large retail store that sells billiards and dart equipment, Newman purchases all of the dart inventory for the company. Over the last three or four years, he said he has doubled the amount and variety of the store’s dart supplies due to increased demand.
Newman has probably sold more dart boards recently, too.
Martin Readion, co-owner of the London Bridge Pub at Ocean and Adams stareets, and an avid dart thrower, has replaced his pub’s dart boards four times in the past two years due to excessive wear.
“Our boards get played most every evening,” he said.
Readion, who moved to the U.S. from East London about 15 years ago, has high hopes that darts will become as popular here as the game is in his native England but he said it could take a while.
“Darts is on TV in England and Europe probably as much as pool is on TV here now,” he said. “Darts gets seen on TV a lot currently so I have no doubt that it will catch on. How long will it take? I am not sure.”
Readion said he thinks darts’ popularity in America might take some time to develop because most bars is the U.S. don’t have dart boards for steel darts — instead, they have electronic dart boards made for darts with plastic tips instead of those made of sharp steel.
Locally, besides the London Bridge Pub, there are only a handful of area bars that still have dart boards for steel darts. Over the years, most have converted to the electronic arcade-type dart boards.
“Steel darts is the traditional way to play,” Readion said. “In Europe, everything is steel darts. One of the biggest obstacles to steel darts becoming bigger in the USA is the fact that so many places have plastic darts.”
The Billiard Factory’s Newman said steel darts have been largely replaced by soft tipped boards over the years due to liability issues and injuries caused by the steel darts, which are sharpened to a needle-like tip.
Readion, however, said there is a bigger reason for the eradication of steel darts in this country - revenue. While steel darts are typically free to play, electronic dart boards for soft tipped darts are similar to pinball machines in that they need to be activited. The “activation” ranges from a quarter to a dollar in local bars and can create a large amount of revenue.
“I hope that will change but obviously there is a big financial justification to having the plastic dart boards,” he said. “In England, plastic darts are very much the exception. When you go into a pub in England, even to this day, it’s very unusual to see plastic darts.”
Readion, who has two frequently used traditional dart boards in his pub, said while steel darts don’t create a lot of money directly, the game does create plenty of indirect revenue.
“While people are playing darts and having a game they are also hanging out and having some beer or getting something to eat,” he said. “That is a big part of it. So they do generate money, just not in the literal sense.”
A lack of sponsorship for dart tournaments is another reason darts as a television event hasn’t caught on in this country yet, Readion said.
If dart tournaments become televised in the U.S., viewership will be low at first and potential sponsors might have reservations about putting their money into a televised dart tournament where there is no viewership.
But Readion likened televised darts to soccer, another typically English sport that had trouble catching the
attention of major U.S. sponsors during its first years on
television in this country.
“Soccer is a classic example,” Readion said. “When I came here 14 years ago, soccer was in its infancy here in America. Now it is huge. There are kids’ soccer leagues, professional soccer leagues, soccer equipment shops and stores.
“Darts will do the same thing; it will just take a lot longer. It’s not physical. You don’t see it on TV, you don’t hear it on the radio, you very rarely see it in bars, but I think it will happen.”
While darts isn’t as flashy as soccer or other big money sporting events, Readion said televised games like darts and poker attract viewers because of those games’ appeal to the common man.
“We all want to see the little guy win,” he said. “We know they are never going to win NASCAR. They are never going to win the pro golf championships. They are never going to win any of these big money sports. So it’s an opportunity to watch the little guy win.
“There is nothing better than seeing the underdog come out on top and there are three sports where it can and does happen. In pool it happens, in poker it happens and in darts it happens.”
Darts 101
While learning the skills to win a televised dart tournament takes years of practice to develop, starting the game requires only a set of darts, a dart board and lots of patience. Here are some tips to help you get started.
Steel or plastic?
There are many different options regarding what kind of darts to buy but the main question is always: do you want steel tips or plastic tips? Depends on where you will usually play. While steel darts are the traditional choice, most American bars tend to have the electronic dart boards that require plastic darts. So if you are going to play most nights out at the bars, plastic is probably the way to go. But it you want to play at home or in a bar that has the old fashioned dart boards for steel darts, steel is your best bet.
Darts
Though many bars will have a few sets of “house darts” laying around, these are usually not in the best shape. Also, darts come in a wide variety of lengths and weights; if you are just learning the game, it is best to learn using the same set of darts. A new set of quality darts can cost as low as $10 but can reach prices of up to $200.
It is also important to know a little bit of dart etiquette regarding an individual’s set of darts — use your own set.
“You don’t want anybody else using your darts,” said Gary Newman of the Billiard Factory. “It’s a personal thing. You can’t beat a man with his darts.”
Boards
The standard dart board is 18 inches in diameter and should be mounted 68 inches from the center of the bullseye to the floor. The throw line should be 93.5 inches away from the board.
For steel darts, a bristle board is what you are looking for. High quality bristle boards are made from horse or boar’s hair and can cost more than $100. Lesser quality bristle boards cost about $50, but make sure they have a staple-free bullseye (the staples can cause a dart to bounce out of the board, which on a bullseye shot could cost you the game.)
While steel is the preferred method, electronic dart boards have their advantages. They are more expensive (from $100 to $350), but an electric dart board will keep score for you and they typically last longer. They are also a good alternative if you want to play darts at home but have small children in your house.
Games
The three main games to play are Cricket, 301 and 501. Cricket is the most widely played game in the U.S. but all three are played during a standard tournament. All of there games are usually played by two people or two teams of two.
In Cricket, a player has to place a dart three times each in seven separate sections of the board to win. The seven sections are the numbered sections 15 through 20 and the bullseye.
In 301, each player starts with a score of 301. They are required to enter and exit the game by landing a dart in a double section of the board. This is called “double in, double out.” (A double section is the small block located in the middle of each numbered section on the board.) After a player lands a dart in a double section, their score is reduced by every numbered section they hit. The object of the game is to get to exactly zero first without going past it.
501 is a similar game but is played “straight in, double out,” which means scoring is started with the first dart a player lands on the board but the game has to end with a double.