Dartboards are made from compressed biscuits of African sisal.
In 1896, Brian Gamlin, a British carpenter, arranged the
numbers on the dartboard as we see them still today.
Flights made of real turkey feathers are becoming harder to get because of
unsatisfactory feathers due to an increasing demand for smaller turkeys.
The best wooden one-piece darts were manufactured by peasants in the Jura
Mountains of Southern France.
The first man to sell matched sets of brass darts was a Hungarian salesman
of boiler linings named Frank Lowy. He went on to found
Unicorn darts, still the largest darts manufacturers in the world.
Dart players in Philadelphia, Pa. (the home of American style darts) used
to keep their dart points sticky by sticking them in potatoes.
The strangest material ever suggested for making darts is spend uranium.
Some dart players in England think throwing darts can get boring, so they
take some six inch nails and use them instead. Joe Hitchcock
used to love to beat "the champs" in this fashion. One of his favorite tricks
was to "nail" a button from between someone's outstretched fingers.
The late Jim Pike, a darts legend in England before most
of you even threw one, was such a marksman that he could shoot a cigarette
from someone's mouth with a dart - AND STICK IT IN ANY DOUBLE.
The average speed of a dart hitting a board is around 64kph (40mph).
London, 1937. The late and great Jim Pike went around the board on
doubles, retrieving his own darts, in the time of 3 minutes 30 seconds. He did
this shooting from the old distance of 9 feet.
Can you score more than 180 with 3 darts? - Turn 16 to the top of the
board and it becomes 91. Three triples give you 819.
There are more pubs with dartboards in the center of New York than there
are in the center of London.
Years ago dartboards were made from elm wood. The numbers and wedges had
to be carefully painted on and the spider (wires) had as many as 100 staples
holding it to the board. To keep it from cracking, the careful pub owner would
soak it in a bucket of water or spillage from the beer taps over night. This
activity spawned the popular misconception that soaking a loose dartboard in
water will prevent darts from falling out. While this is true it will also
considerably shorten the life of the board. The boards we use are made of
tightly packed fibers of hemp or sisal. When these are moistened, they swell
and will invariably bulge, causing the fibers to fall out. The best way is to
let natural moisture in the air tighten the board for you. This, however, can
take some time. If you've got a really bad board, steam it gently or hang a
moistened rag over it to let it "breathe" the moisture slowly.
At an exhibition match at the Gipsy Stadium, in England, in July 1977,
Muhammed Ali faced former Welsh champ Alan Evans.
With Evans scoring only on triples, Ali won hitting a bullseye on the way out
and immediately proclaimed himself darts champion of the world.
On February 21st., 1989, at Buckingham Palace, London, Eric
Bristow became the first dart player to receive the coveted Member of
the British Empire award (M.B.E.). Mr. Bristow admitted he was nervous meeting
the queen, saying, "It was more nerve-racking than any TV final." This gives
him the right to have the letters M.B.E. present after his name.
Eric Bristow got his nickname "The Crafty Cockney" not
from his accent, as some may think, but from a T-shirt he picked up in a
California darts pub.
We've all heard of people playing darts for money or a beer, but this
tale's got a different twist. It's a known fact that singers Tom Jones
and Englebert Humperdinck are old friends and like to play
darts. When on tour they've been known to appear at various pubs all over the
world looking for a game. During the 1970s, they purchased a 3,000-acre ranch
and settled for the fishing rights by playing a game of darts. Just for the
record, Tom Jones won.
Scotland's former No. 1 dart player, Jocky Wilson, tossed
a 24-dart 1001 leg against American Bud Trumbower in March of
1987 at the Eastgate U.S. Marine Base in England. His scores were:
180-140-140-140-81-100-120(out). Jocky scored a fantastic 600 points in his
first 12 darts and doubled out with T20-20-D20 to average 41.7 per dart, start
to finish.
On November 11, 1975 at the Broomfield WMC in Devon, England,
international star Cliff Inglis tossed a magnificent 19-dart
1001 game, smashing all previous records to date: 160-180-140-180-121-180-40.
Cliff averaged an unbelievable 52.68 points per dart despite getting lucky
with his first dart, hitting a double 20 instead of the triple.
All-County Welshman Leighton Rees, on December 18, 1976,
finished a game of 3000 in 141 darts, counting on only the single and double
bulls and closing with a double bull. Leighton converted 34 double bulls and
52 bulls while just 55 darts went astray during this epic leg.
Tony Elleson, at the Now Inn Crumlin in Gwent, England,
scored a perfect double start/double finish 301 game in June of 1987. While
not so unusual in his feat perhaps, but after his first throw he broke a shaft
retrieving his darts and literally had to sit down for five minutes and dig
out the remains before finishing his game. Certainly the stoppage of play did
not affect his concentration: D20-60-60-60-57-D12.
On June 19, 1987 at the Fishing Boat Inn in Northumberland, shooter
Tab Hunter (no, not the movie star!) recorded a brilliant 23
dart 1001 leg: 100-180-140-125-140-100-140-76. He averaged a fine 43.5 points
per dart, ending the final 76 in two.
In May of 1987, Duncan Swift, playing out of the
Felixstowe Dock Sports and Social Club, Surrey, scored 493,470 points to
capture the 24 hour solo record in May of 1987. While shooting and retrieving
the darts himself, Duncan hit an incredible 123 180s, 643 140s and used a
total of 18,369 darts for a fabulous 26.86 points per dart average.
In April of 1988, Stephen Wagg set the 12 hour solo
record for scoring double and single bulls at the Thorncliff Cricket and
Social Club in Sheffield, England. Stephen registered 961 double bulls and
3,335 single bulls for a score of 131,425. He tossed a grand total of 9,714
darts for a 13.52 per dart average.
An eight-hour record for scoring bulls and double bulls was set by
Birmingham players George Perry and Tony Hodgkiss
at The Seventh Trap Public House in December of 1987. The two, averaging 16.19
per dart, hit 1,406 double bulls and 4,247 single bulls for a total of 176,475
points, breaking the old record of 1,048 double bulls and 3,308 single bulls.
In June of 1978, All-World John Lowe captured a 1001 leg
in 22 darts: 140-180-140-100-140-140-125-D18. John averaged 137 per throw or a
grand 45.6 per dart enroute to this memorable game.
Pat Irwin of the Mitre hotel, playing in a double
start/double finish 501 match, hit a 170 in (DB-60-60) and a 170 out
(60-60-DB) in the same leg, in April of 1987.
In a special pairs 3001 challenge match against Steve Brown
and Gene Raymond, London county leaguers Reg Harding
and Dave Lee slugged an 86 darter, just 11 darts short of the
world record: 41- 35- 140- 125- 85- 85- 140- 180- 180- 80- 100- 100- 100- 100-
180- 55- 100- 100- 140- 140- 100- 100- 100- 100- 45- 82- 96- 32. The pair hit
3 maximums enroute to a 34.8 per dart average over the course of the
challenge.
Probably the most notable individual effort occurred on October 13, 1984
in the quarter-finals of the MFI World Matchplay Championships. The match
featured British stars John Lowe and Keith Deller
with Lowe hitting the first televised nine-dart perfect 501 game in the
history of the sport. For the record he went: 180-180-141 (T17, T18, D18) and
collected (eventually) a cheque for 102,000 pounds for his efforts.
(Ironically, due to complex tax laws, Lowe could not pocket a penny from the
jackpot until two years later, as the currency sat in a British bank waiting
for final approval.)
In September, 1989 Vic Cutts and Pete Hotchkins
playing at the Eagle Nechells, Birmingham, England, totaled 460,740 points
setting a 24-hour two-man record. The truly amazing fact of their feat is that
they accomplished it on the more difficult Champion's Choice dartboard.
During an exhibition at the Bell, Cox Heath, in Maidstone, Kent, England
in July of 1989, Alan Glazier, one of the most colourful of
professionals, put on a brilliant display of darts. He won all 13 matches
highlighting the occasion with a magnificent 21-dart 1001 leg - missing the
world record by three darts. His scores were: 140-135-124-140-180-120-161. The
161 out is achieved by hitting a T20, T17 and D-Bull. That's a
per-dart-average of 47.67 - start to finish. Earlier that year he hit a
22-dart 1001 leg at an exhibition at St. Joseph's Club, in Chorley,
Lancashire. The "Ton Machine" averaged 45.5 per dart scoring an
81-140-180-100-140-140-180-40.
While qualifying for the Winmau World Masters in November, 1989, Norfolk
County player Martin Golder, tossed a very notable 39.12 per
dart average in four legs. He threw two 14-darters, a 12-darter and capped it
off with an 11 dart game where he tossed a 41-180-180-100.
In November of 1989, Tony Jones recorded 28 perfect 180
scores in just one hour and 25 minutes for a charity event in Manchester,
England.
During a 24-hour period in August 26-27, 1988, Paul Finch, Graham
Prior and Nick Steggell scored 2,093 double bulls and 7,861 single
bulls at the Eight Bells in Ewell, Surrey, England.
Six gents from the White Lion Hotel in Penzance, Cornwall (UK) went around
the board 137 times on triples in 12 hours on January 19, 1986.
In 1986, Allen Chaperlin and Ian Melton
played 1,265 full games of 501 in 182 hours and one minute at the Eagle
Tavern, Oxford, England. That's one game every 8.6 minutes and the feat took
over 7-1/2 days to complete. Ya gotta love it.
On March 28-29, 1986, Graham Innis, Graham Miller, Graham Parker,
and Richie Davis scored 1,003,769 points in 24 hours at the Maxilla
Club in London, England. During that period they hit 152 perfect 180s.
Englishman, Richard Smith, a Carlisle local player,
completed a 25-dart 1001 leg in mid 1989. He scored
140-100-100-95-180-140-100-122-24.
An impressive 7-man superstar lineup consisting of Bob Anderson,
Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Chris Johns, Martin Phillips, Alan Warriner, and
Ritchie Gardner established a 15-minute fast-scoring mark of 8,806
points in a charity throw at the 1988 British Professional Championships.
On this side of the Atlantic but across the continent, Craig
Ishigo of Gardinia, Calif. tossed a perfect cricket leg without even
realizing it. In his first shot he threw a T20, T19 and T18, followed by a
T17, T16 and T15. He capped it off with a bull and doublebull. Afterwards,
when his feat had been pointed out to him, he said he thought the game had
gone unusually fast but hadn't really thought about it.
Big Cliff Lazarenko fired his first 9-dart perfect 501
game at an exhibition at the Aberlynon Leisure Centre. Using 25-gram titanium
tungsten darts, he threw two 180s and a T20, T19, D12 for the 141 out in the
last match of the night.
Paul Lim of San Bernadino, Calif. threw a perfect 9-dart
501 leg at the 1990 Embassy World Championships. Because he did it before the
TV cameras he received L52,000 ($88,000 US) for his remarkable achievement.
In the most perfect of perfect 501 games, Roy Blowies,
playing at the Widgeon's Pub in Calgary in late 1989 achieved his 9-darter by
doubling in on the bullseye first. He scored 161(DB-T20-T17), 180,
160(T20-T20-D20).
In tournament play: The maximum allowable weight and length for a dart is
12 inches and 50 grams.
In the British Dart Organization (BDO), Indian Sikhs are exempt from the
rule forbidding headgear.
In some very friendly games, a player is allowed to "double out" by
throwing a dart into the space between the two wires comprising the numeral
"11". Also known as "Splitting the eleven's" this is used to double out on a
score of 1.
