British Pub Games: Darts

A dartboard is an almost essential part of any British pub. Without a dartboard, it’s questionable whether a pub can be called a pub at all. Aside from the bar itself, the dartboard can be considered the social nexus between the dart-players and other patrons of the pub. If the cries of ecstasy and anguish can’t be heard from the inevitable football game on the television, you’ll surely hear the mixed cries and thuds of the ever-present darts game that you’ll find in every pub. If it’s not quiz night or racing night, with the cries of delight over winning a large Cheltenham bet, you’ll certainly notice that the darts game takes the spotlight.

The beauty of darts, much like any other traditional British pub game, is the fact that anyone can pick up and play the game in a matter of minutes. However, the game is extremely skilled at competitive level, and despite years of practice, I am nowhere anywhere near good enough to play darts at such a level. The science of the game offers a surprising amount of depth and it’s fascinating to watch other players’ techniques and stances to try and improve your own with every game. That’s the thing that sets darts aside from a lot of other sports; you can really feel yourself improving noticeably with every game. When I first started learning how to play darts, I was actually terrible at the game. It was months until one of my opponents pointed out a flaw in my stance that was somehow causing me to throw the darts off-balance, allowing them to spin awkwardly in the wrong direction. One minor correction made a world of difference.

My friends and I usually like to play a popular, multi-player variant of darts, known as ‘killer’ or ‘killer darts.’ Each player is assigned a random number on the board and is given a number of lives, usually three, but this maybe adjusted for the sake of handicap. The goal is to knock your opponents out of the game by hitting their numbers and taking their lives, or hitting your own number to give yourself more lives. It’s a great game and anyone can learn in minutes.

If darts isn’t your cup of tea, then you might like to try partaking in another pub sport like watching the racing and Breeders Cup betting.