Dartists

[Maximus Decimus]

When I was a teenager I had a dartboard in my room and always liked sticking a bit of music on and playing around. Darts was one of those sports like snooker and tennis where it had a few-week window in the year that I wanted to play it inspired by what I'd seen on TV. Yes it was the lakeside, but it was great drama at the time. 

With the most recent lockdown, I decided to buy myself a board again after 20 odd years. I don't enjoy sitting at a computer all day, and most of the things I do to wind down involve either more screen time or effort.

I've been pleasantly surprised how much I've enjoyed throwing a few darts again. I'm pretty terrible, but that's not the point! Technology has certainly improved things too, there's all sorts on YouTube and there are apps where you can play against the computer or online etc which makes it a bit more interesting.

Knowing this forum, I'm sure there's a few people who are probably quite good at the arrows so I'm picking brains for tips. My scoring is improving, but my doubles are useless. If I played 501 I'd inevitably end up on double 1 so I've been playing a lot of cricket. 

Anyone know any useful tips for throwing doubles?

 

 

 

[Futtocks]

Don't ask me, I have a tiny but involuntary flick in my wrist that means my darts hardly ever fly true.

Mind you, I did like Den Hegarty, Rita Ray, Thump Thompson et al.

[JohnM]

I started reading this with a sense of foreboding.  That soon vanished, though, as I realised the importance of the post. Darts was one of those acrivities that as a youth I really wanted to be good at...but wasn't.  Snooker was another, as was tenpin....and Rugby League.

Clearly those last four are out of the question owing to age, health, wealth and  space for starters, but darts isn't.

During lockdown we've played something like 120 games of Scrabble on yer actual board, not on yer computer. 

I'm busy learning how to order bread, mineral water and eggs in German, how to create videos in DaVinci Resolve and listening to The Ring of the Nibelungen. 

Might just  add darts to the list,so thanks.

[JohnM]

Oops...

[Mumby Magic]

Wayne Mardle on twitter does odd tips on there and I believe there are YouTube tips too. First tip is learn and practice checkouts. Don't worry about treble 20s. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

10 hours ago, Maximus Decimus said:

When I was a teenager I had a dartboard in my room and always liked sticking a bit of music on and playing around. Darts was one of those sports like snooker and tennis where it had a few-week window in the year that I wanted to play it inspired by what I'd seen on TV. Yes it was the lakeside, but it was great drama at the time. 

With the most recent lockdown, I decided to buy myself a board again after 20 odd years. I don't enjoy sitting at a computer all day, and most of the things I do to wind down involve either more screen time or effort.

I've been pleasantly surprised how much I've enjoyed throwing a few darts again. I'm pretty terrible, but that's not the point! Technology has certainly improved things too, there's all sorts on YouTube and there are apps where you can play against the computer or online etc which makes it a bit more interesting.

Knowing this forum, I'm sure there's a few people who are probably quite good at the arrows so I'm picking brains for tips. My scoring is improving, but my doubles are useless. If I played 501 I'd inevitably end up on double 1 so I've been playing a lot of cricket. 

Anyone know any useful tips for throwing doubles?

 

 

 

Sorry no help can be given from me and my many attempts to try and ‘get good’ at darts have only left me wishing there was a place on the board for a ‘0.5’ double!  Haha

Great idea about getting away from the laptop though if you’re working from home 8 hours a day.

Ive been playing Mancala, Gomoku and Nine Men’s Morris to vary things up a bit on the games front thanks to a worldwide games compendium on the Switch - would love to play one of these in real life post lockdown.

[Adelaide Tiger]

I used to be pretty pathetic at darts until I started throwing an hedgehog at the board and on some throws I was getting scores of over 200 .... tis true I tell you!

P.S. I once needed 30 to finish so I threw the hedgehog and scored 15 double ones.  

[Maximus Decimus]

2 hours ago, JohnM said:

I started reading this with a sense of foreboding.  That soon vanished, though, as I realised the importance of the post. Darts was one of those acrivities that as a youth I really wanted to be good at...but wasn't.  Snooker was another, as was tenpin....and Rugby League.

Clearly those last four are out of the question owing to age, health, wealth and  space for starters, but darts isn't.

During lockdown we've played something like 120 games of Scrabble on yer actual board, not on yer computer. 

I'm busy learning how to order bread, mineral water and eggs in German, how to create videos in DaVinci Resolve and listening to The Ring of the Nibelungen. 

Might just  add darts to the list,so thanks.

I've always loved a bit of scrabble but no-one in my house is interested, granted one is 7 and one is 4. I've also been learning a language throughout lockdown, but that's an example where I jump from a screen to another screen - plus it can require a lot of mental effort! I play a bit of piano too, but unless I just play my repertoire, it also requires focus and effort to do. 

I wanted something away from a screen that required little mental exertion and darts has been perfect for that. Another thing I like about it is the sheer variety of approaches. I used to be big into golf and there was largely a set way of doing it.

With darts, even though there is what is seen as good technique, there are many exceptions. For instance, a locked wrist is seen as preferable but then you see that Eric Bristow completely flicked his wrist.

The lesson seems mainly to be to pick up a set of darts and throw, see what works for you. 

[Northern Eel]

I do like the chuck a few darts if I stumble across a pub with a dart board staring at me, although I am quite frankly terrible. 

The last time I managed that was just over a year ago. A mate and I had gone over to Carcassonne to watch the locals shape up against Catalans in a pre-season friendly. There is a pub, The Celt, in the town, which had a dart board. The locals may well, by the evidence of the surrounding wall, have been even worse than I.

 

[Northern Eel]

4 hours ago, Johnoco said:

My brother got a proper Yorkshire dartboard (with no trebles) from somewhere, which we played for hours on as kids. More often than not playing 151 rather than 501.

Every day is a learning day. I've just looked it up. Fabulous. Thanks.

What's the history of such a dart board? Did they come before the standard ones? Surely it's not that we don't like giving much away and hence cut the number of points on offer?! 

[Maximus Decimus]

1 hour ago, Northern Eel said:

Every day is a learning day. I've just looked it up. Fabulous. Thanks.

What's the history of such a dart board? Did they come before the standard ones? Surely it's not that we don't like giving much away and hence cut the number of points on offer?! 

I'm sufficiently sad to have already looked up the history of darts. 

The Yorkshire board is just a local varient from the time when the rules hadn't been standardised across the country. There's others, like a board where all the numbers are multiples of 5. It is suspected that the game probably started at English fares. 

[Maximus Decimus]

There's a young lad on YouTube I follow who puts up some interesting stuff. He's been a top level darts referee, but only ever a pub player averaging around 50s.

He did one the other month where he worked out the chances of a 9 darter. He threw 700 darts at the treble 20, 100 at the T19 and 100 at the D20. Turned out his chances are 13 million to 1 . It's even 353-1 that he'll get a 180.

That's my temporary aim as I've never done one (had a 140 a few times) but my odds must be easily over 1000-1. 

 

[Damien]

47 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I'm sufficiently sad to have already looked up the history of darts. 

The Yorkshire board is just a local varient from the time when the rules hadn't been standardised across the country. There's others, like a board where all the numbers are multiples of 5. It is suspected that the game probably started at English fares. 

There's probably loads, the history is probably quiteinteresting. I know of the Manchester dartboard:

http://darts-uk.co.uk/Manchester.html

[Futtocks]

Because the internet exists, so does this site: http://www.darts501.com/Dartboards_Other.html 

This probably also means that Internet Rule 34 also applies to this subject, if you are the type to search for it.

[Maximus Decimus]

The actual way the numbers were chosen on a darts board isn't known, but there is certainly a more logical way of going it and others have designed it. 

It basically has 20 with 1 and 3 next to it. All the odd numbers are on green and the even on black with their going in order. It would make it a bit harder. Not only would my normal score go from 26 to 24, but it would make finishes harder. Currently, darts players try to get to double 16 because if you miss, you get double 8 right next to it.

 

[Futtocks]

10 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Currently, darts players try to get to double 16 because if you miss, you get double 8 right next to it.

I think players would still go that way though, as you can halve 16 again and again more than any other attempted finish on the board. If you did that with a higher number and missed, you'd and up on an odd (no finish) number quicker.

How about this for a fiendish notion - outside the scoring area, you have LEDs with numbers (still 1-20) that randomise after every throw. That'd scramble the brains of all but the best players.

[Bearman]

I remember in the 60's dartboard didn't have a treble ring.

I also remember playing darts in pubs in Derby where the "oche" was only about 6ft from the dartboard.

[Spidey]

22 hours ago, Maximus Decimus said:

When I was a teenager I had a dartboard in my room and always liked sticking a bit of music on and playing around. Darts was one of those sports like snooker and tennis where it had a few-week window in the year that I wanted to play it inspired by what I'd seen on TV. Yes it was the lakeside, but it was great drama at the time. 

With the most recent lockdown, I decided to buy myself a board again after 20 odd years. I don't enjoy sitting at a computer all day, and most of the things I do to wind down involve either more screen time or effort.

I've been pleasantly surprised how much I've enjoyed throwing a few darts again. I'm pretty terrible, but that's not the point! Technology has certainly improved things too, there's all sorts on YouTube and there are apps where you can play against the computer or online etc which makes it a bit more interesting.

Knowing this forum, I'm sure there's a few people who are probably quite good at the arrows so I'm picking brains for tips. My scoring is improving, but my doubles are useless. If I played 501 I'd inevitably end up on double 1 so I've been playing a lot of cricket. 

Anyone know any useful tips for throwing doubles?

 

 

 

Practice practice practice

Our darts team would meet up for training on a Sunday afternoon/evening (depending on rugby) and play plenty of games of killer to practice doubles 

if you’re on your own. Do round the board but doubles only

Darts is all about muscle memory I think. Repeat it enough and it’ll get better

[Maximus Decimus]

15 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Practice practice practice

Our darts team would meet up for training on a Sunday afternoon/evening (depending on rugby) and play plenty of games of killer to practice doubles 

if you’re on your own. Do round the board but doubles only

Darts is all about muscle memory I think. Repeat it enough and it’ll get better

Funny, I was taught a game that they called killer darts but it doesn't seem to be too similar to what is killer now. 

I quite enjoy cricket, but if I could just improve my doubles I could move onto proper darts. 

[Maximus Decimus]

18 minutes ago, Bearman said:

I remember in the 60's dartboard didn't have a treble ring.

I also remember playing darts in pubs in Derby where the "oche" was only about 6ft from the dartboard.

I might adapt to this version. 

We had a darts board as a kid but I used to rest it on a chair and almost float them in. I've never adjusted to playing high up

[my missus]

got this message this week on our darts web page as our darts team don't seem to be interested feel free.

Hello, I am a radio producer currently working on 'The Listening Project for BBC Radio 4. I'm looking at recording a conversation between two pub darts players from different parts of the country to share their experiences(over zoom!) . I'm looking for someone (male or female) who plays for a local pub team, is passionate about darts and is very chatty, not players who have necessarily played at a high level. Do you have anyone suitable on your teams please? my email address is gill.kearsley@bbc.co.uk many thanks Gill

[Maximus Decimus]

I think I mentioned there was a guy on YouTube who worked out his chances of hitting a 9 darter (13 million to 1). 

As I've never hit a 180 but many 140s, I decided to work out my rough chances of hitting one. When aiming, I hit the treble 20 about 1 in 10. This means I should expect to hit it after 1000 attempts if I don't improve. 

What's mad is that my odds of 2/3 are only 1 in 37 so there really is a big gap. Maths can be really counter intuitive. 

Of course I'm ignoring the reality that if you've hit the first two, the space is much reduced and also that I'm a total bottler anyway .