History of Darts

There are many varied stories of how darts began,

from Neanderthals practicing with spears to stories

of the pilgrims bringing the game to America on the

Mayflower. There are stories of archers in medieval

England, needing winter practice, using arrows that

had been cut down and finding the round bottom of

a wine cask at the local tavern made a perfect target.

Even Henry the VIII was reputed to have played the

game and was given a very ornate set of darts by his

one time wife, Ann Boleyn.

Darts, as we know them today, were around in the

mid to late 19th century. It was after WWI that the

game found a permanent spot in the local pubs and

taverns, with even the King and Queen appearing

and throwing darts for promotional purposes. This

further enhanced and legitimized the sport and after

WWII darts started to gain momentum in popularity.

When the war ended, the game spread to America

when the GI’s, stationed in England, brought the

game back with them.

In the 1970’s the BDO (British Darts Organization)

and the ADO (American Darts Organization) were

established and leagues and tournaments were

formed were held on both sides of the Atlantic. In the

mid to late 1970’s the introduction and development

of the soft tip vending machine arrived. By the 1980’s

the soft tip dart game and their coin fed machines

were promoted, in certain areas, by vending

companies who organized leagues and tournaments.

With the possibility of sharing in the monetary

windfall and the added safety factor of plastic points,

pub owners signed on and the game continued to

grow in those heavily promoted areas.

Darts entered the mainstream in the 1990’s when the

game was introduced to the general public through

the sporting goods and department store chains.

Today there are professional dart players who

compete for thousands of dollars along with televised

tournaments that are shown regularly in England. A

few tournaments can be found on American

television on ESPN and Fox Sports.

Today, the popularity of the game of darts has

expanded beyond the pubs and taverns and now can

be found in many home recreation game rooms and

on college campuses making the game of darts a

common pastime and a staple of the indoor games

industry.

Scoring Schematic

The two most popular dartboards used to play the

game of darts are the ‘bristle dartboard” for steel tip

play and the “electronic dartboard” for soft tip play.

Both dartboards are divided into pie shaped sections

numbered 1 to 20 with the center most section called

the bulls-eye. There are two narrow rings traversing

the dartboard in a circular pattern. The outer ring

counts the number double score and the inner ring

counts the number triple score. There are two sections

to the bulls-eye; the outer ring is a single bulls-eye and

counts as 25 points with the inner bulls-eye counts as a

double bull or 50 points

Dartboards

Soft tip

Electronic or soft tip dartboards have the same clock

layout as a steel tip dartboard and are made up of

hundreds of holes in each wedge, which is tapered to

accept the plastic pointed dart. The electronic

dartboards are convenient in that they keep score

automatically for one player and up to as many as

eight players. These dartboards have built in

programming for a number of different games and can

have as many as 24 to 100 games and variations

depending on the machine and the level of technology

it employs. Like bristle dartboards, one can find

electronic dartboards in taverns and home recreation

rooms.

Hanging Instructions - Soft Tip

  Darts

Dissecting a dart

Darts are made up of four major parts: a point, a barrel, a shaft and a flight. The barrels are the main body and

come in a variety of shapes, sizes and materials. Flights and shafts are replaceable and the various sizes and

shapes help tailor the dart to an individual’s playing style. When a dart is thrown, air resistance and gravity

affect the flight pattern. A properly balanced dart will fly true and track to the board with very little wobble.

  Dart Materials

Darts come in a variety of materials,

weights and grips. The most common metals

used in the production of darts are brass,

nickel silver and tungsten. Brass is

inexpensive and is perfect for the home

recreational player and the occasional pub

game. Nickel Silver has the same attributes

of brass but is tarnish resistant. Tungsten is

extremely dense, three times denser than

brass & nickel silver, and is popular because

of its weight to size ratio resulting in a

heavier weight in a smaller mass. If two

barrels, one made of brass and one made of

tungsten, the same weight were compared

you would see that the tungsten barrel is 3

times smaller than the brass barrel. These

important features make tungsten the

material of choice for the more serious dart

shooter.

  Dart Weights

Steel tip darts are measured by weighing the point and barrel without the flight and shaft. Although darts are

available in a wide range of weights (from 18 – 40 grams), the majority of players play with darts weighing 18

– 23 grams when using brass and 23 – 26 grams when using tungsten darts. The legal weight limit of your

major overseeing organizations is 50 grams.

  Dart Barrel Shapes

There are a number of barrel shapes that can affect your grip and flight pattern. The maximum length

accepted, by the major overseeing organizations, of a dart for competition is 12 inches. Most darts don’t

approach this length (most fall between 5 – 7 inches including flight & shaft) because if a dart were too long

there would be excessive wobble making the dart difficult to control. When being manufactured, darts that

weigh 25 grams or greater maintain a maximum length and increase in circumference instead of continuing

to elongate when produced.

  Dart Barrel Grips

Darts come in a variety of shapes and grips and is another way that darts can be customized to the

individual. Knurling provides the most grip options with placement on the front of the barrel, the rear of the

barrel, the entire barrel and innovative combinations of knurling and grooves like the Harrows Graflite. The

various grip types allow the player confident finger placement that is both consistent and tactile.

The common grip styles include:

  Retractable Point Darts

Moveable or retractable point dart sets have the added advantage of dramatically reducing bounce-outs

and are available only in steel tip darts. These darts are specially made with the front end of the dart drilled

out to except a collar and point with enough room for the point to act like a piston (moving in and out). This

major innovation revolutionized the dart barrel and the industry when it was introduced over 30 years ago.

The advantage happens when a dart hits a wire the point retracts and lifts slightly and the energy from the

darts forward thrust forces the point past the wire into the board resulting in a scoring dart. Depending on

the point design some darts, like the “Power Point”, will rotate on the point allowing for fewer deflections

and tighter groups much like that of the “Top Spin” shaft.

  Flights and Shafts

   Dart Shafts

Shafts come in six lengths and coupled

with various flight shapes allow you to

fine-tune your dart set. Darts, when

thrown, are affected by air resistance and

the natural pull of gravity. In order to

attain the trajectory and flight pattern

best suited to your individual throwing

style, one should experiment with the

various shaft lengths and flight shapes to

modify your dart. By doing this, you are

modifying the dart to match your throwing

style rather than changing your throwing

style to accommodate the dart set.

Typically, when your dart has excessive

wobble, this can be corrected by

shortening the shaft length.

Although there are many different shaft lengths the most common lengths used are the medium, short and

extra short. These shaft lengths are the standards in the industry and are the lengths that will usually be

found in any stores that carry dart supplies. There are in between sizes allowing for more customizing

options and can be found in stores that carry a broad selection and cater to the serious enthusiasts.

   Spinning shafts

Dart shafts are primarily made of aluminum or nylon and are available with a number of features:

replaceable tops, adjustable lengths, extra-thin, EZ loading and rotating tops and by far the most popular

added feature is the spinning shaft. The innovative spinning shaft top came as a major change in darts

equipment 15 or more years ago with a needle shaft and a proprietary flight. In 1994 the “Top Spin” shaft

took this concept one step farther by having the top of the shaft spin, rather than the special spinning flight,

broadening its appeal by allowing any conventional flight to be used. The spinning top, while holding the

flight, will rotate the flight out of the way when hit by an oncoming dart reducing deflections allowing for a

tighter group resulting in higher scores. For example: if a dart is in the triple 20 when the next dart

approaches and contacts the flight the flight revolves and the second dart slides in beside the first.

  Flights

Similar to the various shaft lengths, the different shaped flights will have an affect on the aerodynamics of

the trajectory of the dart. Flights are like the rudders on airplanes and boats and they help steer the dart to

the board. There are 12 or more different shapes of flights and they all will affect your trajectory slightly or

dramatically. A good starting place in choosing a flight is with the two most common shapes: “Standard” for

steel tip darts and “Slim” for soft tip darts. A generalization is - the heavier steel tip dart needs a broader

surface area to provide enough lift so the heavier dart tracks to the board and lands either horizontal to the

floor or with a slightly upward angle. The lighter soft tip dart requires less lift and drag to make sure that

when tracking to the board it lands horizontal to the floor and can find its way into the tapered hole. The

steel tip player can put a severe arc on the dart trajectory to the board and the dart will still penetrate the

sisal. A moderate arc on the trajectory of a soft tip dart thrown at an electronic dartboard would bounce out

because of the angle of the surface holes on the board require the dart to be thrown on flat trajectory. The

advantage of most electronic dartboards is that the machine will record the score even with the dart

bouncing out.

Dart flights are made of plastic but there are various types, thickness and laminations that are esthetically

pleasing. Most players enjoy choosing different designs, from the broad selection available.

  Throwing Techniques

   Gripping the dart

There are a variety of grips one can use to hold a

dart and all vary according to each individual. If

you watch accomplished dart players you will see

some very unusual ways of holding the dart. Most

people, when they pick up a dart, position their

hands to form a very natural and comfortable grip.

The most common way to hold a dart is to position

your thumb underneath your fore finger with your

middle finger holding the dart towards the front of

the barrel or resting on the point. The pencil grip

is also very popular and is naturally comfortable.

Choosing a grip is a subjective decision and

usually what feels most comfortable for you will

work the best.

  The Stance

To be consistent, your body should be balanced and feel as natural as possible when standing at the throw line.

The easiest way to achieve this is to have both feet flat and anchored to the floor with your foot against the

throw line. It is perfectly legal to lean over the throw-line and some players take advantage of this and lean

noticeably forward.

  The Throw

The goal is to create a consistent repeatable throw, and once you have established your foot position and your

lower body is perfectly still, it is time to launch your dart. The only part of your body that should move when you

throw is your arm. Throwing the dart is

the same general motion as throwing a

paper airplane. Your upper arm should

be almost parallel to the floor with your

forearm and wrist at a right angle.

Next you draw back and with a forward

motion, like gliding an airplane, follow

through with your arm and wrist

releasing the dart winding up in a

finishing position pointing at the

dartboard.

At first you will focus on the mechanics

of the throw but eventually you should

be concentrating on the target and

letting the motion take care of itself. Have you ever taken a wad of paper and thrown it from a distance into a

wastebasket? Most people have and when you do are you thinking of how your arm is moving and how far back

you are bringing it and with how much force you are throwing it? Of course not, you do it by feel because the

mechanics are inherent. You have thrown things all of your life. This will be the same when throwing darts after

a few hundred throws – you won’t have to think about the throw; just concentrate on the target

Out Chart

T – Triple, D – Double, S – Single, B – Bulls-eye

When your total score is less than 200 points, there are mathematical combinations of triple, double and single

numbers that a player can score to finish a game quickly. Only the most skilled players can achieve these

combinations with any regularity. These combinations are referred to as “out shots”. There is a table (called an

out chart) that can be used for suggested finishes and are available in two dart charts (winning with only two

darts) or three dart charts (winning with three darts).

Reading the Out Chart of suggested finishes is easy when you understand the letters above and what they stand

for. Many of these charts are posted on walls near the dartboard in pubs to aid league players in learning their

out shots and to speed up play