As a brit I'm both proud and gobsmacked by darts. Its totally silly but 100% very serious. Its almost in our blood as ex archers...it totally sums Britain up, pub, beer, darts, meat raffle. Darts and snooker players used to appear on tv completely smashed but still play brilliantly...and we worshipped them for it 😂.
As an amusing aside, the darts TV game show "Bullseye" is legendary. The host Jim Bowen would try and put people off, then if someone won the prize would be a decanter, if they lost he'd say "look what you could have won" and they'd show them a car or speedboat 😂
I'd forgotten about the 1985 Snooker world championship. Dennis Taylor vs Steve Davis. One of 'em won 18-17 on a final black ball. It went on a bit late. Sod all happened the following day as the entire country was asleep.
No shit, I was 10 and HAD to go to bed and wanted Dennis to win so bad but went to sleep thinking he'd lost, and the viewing figures were in excess of 15/16 million or something! Half the teachers didn't want to be at school!
Watched it with me Grandad when I was 7. That and Barry McGuigan winning his title fight are two of many sporting events we watched together cheering on The Irish. Thrilling stuff.
🎯🇬🇧🍻 I'm from Stoke-on-Trent, Eric Bristow (5x World Champion) used to be my neighbour, and Maureen was my landlady at my local pub...👍 You have to finish on a double, so you start on 501 and work down to 0. You can finish also on a bull which is worth 50, outer bull is 25, but you can't finish on that!!...😉
"When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer … Bristow's only 27." "If we'd had Phil Taylor at Hastings against the Normans, they'd have gone home" "The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in with a portion of chips, you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them." - Sid Waddell
Bullseye scores 50 but it can also be used as Double for a finish (although it's value remains 50 not 100), all games must be finished on a Double, some tournaments are Double In/Double Out meaning you start with a Double and finish on a Double
My dad played darts for the local pub and told me about a guy he used to know who could throw nails into the dartboard, obviously not during official league games but just to show off his skills. One thing this documentary doesn't mention is the TV quiz show "Bullseye" which was hugely popular at the time and in turn made darts more popular too. There were three teams of two people, one dart player and the other who answered the questions to win the amount of money the dart player had scored. The team that advanced the furthest would then have both of the team throw darts to win prizes and they could gamble all of their money/prizes at the end by scoring 101 or more to win a star prize. (normally a speedboat!)
Growing up in the 80’s darts was a very big deal, I dunno what it’s like in America but it’s very common for kids to go to pubs with their parents not so much now it’s more common now for kids to go pub with their parents for a meal or an event like a family party but in the 80’s you would be sat at the table with your cousins with a coke or an orange and a packet of crisps whilst your parents were playing darts lol
Slight correction at 7:28 - he didn't say het was going to hit 1280... He said he was going to hit 12 - 180s! So hit the treble 20 3 times with 3 darts... 12 times. It's the highest single score you can get, it's like a 147 in snooker (kind of). I just wanted it to be clear how confident he was.
I’ve hit 180 plenty of times and eventually I could see me hit 180x3,my highest break is like 12 and I’ll never 147 even if I spend the rest of my life trying-just saying ✌️
Eric Bristow played in one of my town's local pubs one night. People could play against him. I don't play the game but have noticed the popularity of the game is growing again. Have to say when we met Eric, such a lovely chap.
Something that has always made me smile was then when I was a teenager and left school in the early 90s , I got my first job in a local printing factory in the north west UK, all the employees were local working class people , one of them was around 10 yrs older than me , but was always mocked about how thick and stupid he was. But he was great at darts and could calculate the finishes in a flash, you could just give him a random number and in second he’d say something like double top, triple 19, double 5 etc etc, and was always right. I thought that was really cool.
I wasn't long out of school when darts became big, the pub I usually drank in had pinball and asteroids but no dart board. Whenever I was in a pub that had a dartboard there was always some old thicker than pigshit ex schoolmate eager play a game, and just like your mate, he would tell me I needed triple 17 and double tops to finnish before I had worked out double 20 = 40, never mind deduct 40 from my total to work out what I had left, far less what I would have to hit to be left with a double.
For anybody not from Britain it seems crazy but the pub culture was massive at one time here and darts was played in every pub. It was an extremely popular and very inexpensive pastime. Everyone could have a go. The tension of watching two top players on tv playing darts took off in a big way massively and now its just crazy how much these pros can make.
There was a documentary called 'Arrows', made about Eric Bristow and shown in the cinema all around the UK in 1980- it was the 2nd feature to the classic British crime film, The Long Good Friday.
it might have already been said, you have to finish on a double, eric had 40 left to score, double 20 equals 40, he hit the 20, which means his score is 20 to win, so he went for the double 10, which makes 20.
"Pub Olympics" is absolutely spot on. Lot of that here on TV in the UK in the 70s/80s. Darts, snooker especially. All of them smoking and drinking away, but included in "sport" :) Always loved Eric Bristow.
It looks easier than it is. Trust me it takes a lot more talent than ppl think. The new kid on the block this year Luke Littler he’s amazing watch out for his career he’s only 16 and made it to this years final.
My Nan used to play darts regularly. She was part of a darts team that used to play other clubs, and she used to win. I remember the small trophies she used to display. She played up until her early 80's. 😊
The dexy's "jocky wilson" thing is actually a funny story according to his book Kevin Rowland is a massive darts fan so would refer to the song as "Jocky Wilson said" at shows etc including deliberately changing the lyrics. Apparently it had been a long tour and he asked for the photo behind them as a joke.
Lovin the Darts video reaction of some oldschool legends. You guys need to look at a few Snooker players and do a reaction video of Alex Higgins, Ronnie O'Sullivan Best matches & 147 breaks
I was 12 in 1980 and my parents were big fans of darts and snooker. They always watched the championships on TV. I wasn't interested but im sitting here watching this, recognising all the faces and able to put their names to all the players. Amazing 😊
Notice how Eric Bristow instantly knew the difference between a 136 finish and a 138 finish, and which was easier and why. He was like a computer at the board, and this gave him a big edge at the time. You could see other players have to break their rhythm and start doing mental arithmetic to see what their next shot was.
You will be amazed to see what the World Championship at The Alexandra Palace on Sky is like now if you can get hold of it the country was captivated this year by a 16 year old who got to the final Luke Littler crazy crowds dressed up with the odd 10 pints consumed You really need to see Snooker that is really a cut above Pool in my mindRonnie O`Sullivan is very special a champion for it must be 30 years or so very very skilful game
💯 my son is a good football player lives for football Norwich city season ticket holder but because of littler we now own a new dart board he got a darts shirt and darts with Norwich flights and his name on them 😂 superb
Ronnie is the greatest snooker player of all time for all time and I say that with great confidence and for sure he’s one of the greatest sportsman to grace the earth ✌️
Ronnie is the greatest snooker player of all time for all time and I say that with great confidence and for sure he’s one of the greatest sportsman to grace the earth ✌️
My local pub used to have a competition where we played bar skittles, pool and darts, like a mini bar Olympics, I was always a better pool player but was decent at darts, I played in a pool comp against Mark Selby once who's won the snooker world champs since, there's a UK pool comp where anyone can enter so if you're lucky you can get drawn against a top pro player in the early rounds. When I lived in Brighton I played for my local pubs pool team and the leagues are excellent down there, we'd play the American rack or rail rules too, we'd have lock ins playing money games until 3am, not quite the money in this video but we'd play £100 a game. In the 70's when Bristow and Lowe were at their peak it was incredible, every kid had a dart board on the wall in their bedroom, every sports shop in town had a whole dept where you'd go and get kitted out with darts, there were endless varieties of different barrels, shafts and flights, you could spend hours in their trying to find that magical combo which worked best for you.
Professional Darts is one of the purest and most technical sports there is, as a spectacle Pro Darts is undeniable, a 9 Dart finish is one of the hardest feats in all of sport, 7 Treble 20s, a Treble 19 and a Double 12 to finish from a 501 start, 9 perfect darts in a row, the current World Champion Luke Humphries received £500k for winning the Title, the other finalist Luke Littler was only 16 and received £250k, the World Championship trophy has been renamed the Sid Waddell Trophy since his passing
There's more than one 9-dart finish in fact there are 3944 combinations of 9 dart finishes there are 3 common ways of finishing the standard 141 finish you can do a 9-darter with finishes other than 141
I think there is a growing trend toward going T20 T20 T20 T19 T19 T19 T20 Bull D20 Pros are going for T19 early in a leg more often and leaving yourself on D20 is a better out in case you miss.
In the past most pubs had a Darts boards and many had a Darts team.. It was a natural evolution for it to appear on TV.. Beer and Darts have always gone together..
One thing this documentary didn't mention is that when Darts was in it's early 1980's boom it inspired a TV gameshow called Bullseye that aired Sunday afternoons on ITV from 1981 to 1995. At the height of it's popularity Bullseye was getting audiences of around 17 million people and became iconic in British pop culture. Even today if you say to a British person "You can't beat a bit off bully" almost everyone in the UK will know what you're referencing.
Snooker has the same working class roots and got big when it started being televised. It’s now massive and highly popular in China. Some Chinese players atr starting to become champs. It’s similar to pool but much more difficult mainly because the tables are huge and the scoring system is complicated but not impossible. To begin with you must pot a red ball, which stays down, for one point. Then a coloured ball then a red. The colours come back up to their allotted spot until all the red balls are down then the colours have to be potted in strict order finishing on black. Each colour has a set number of points with black scoring 7 points then in a descending order of value. Ronnie O’Sullivan is the goat. His dad is in prison for murder which gives you an idea of the social class of where Snooker comes from although it was British army officers that invented the game adapted from an Indian one
A great pub game we used to play in our local that got the entire place fascinated. Pin a £20 note over the Bullseye, stand 10 feet away from the board and the first to hit the note with a dart wins the £20. Try it. We had the whole pub competing for hours. A very drunk teenager won. Eventually :o)
Ive played darts since I was 13, we had a dart board at home. I played in a league with my mum and nan and we did ok, but always lost to County players who were great. I used to win a lot of my matches and because of this some of the teams questioned my age, I used to lie and say I was older even though I was still at school! The bullseye is worth 50, and the outer bull section is 25. You can finish the game on the bullseye or a double section round the outer edge of the board (called checking out). I am so glad you found this to react to, I haven't seen it before and really enjoyed it. Phil Taylor has now retired from competitive darts, but he won an amazing 16 world titles amongst many other achievements and will be a tough act to better. My daughters middle name is Taylor, named after the man himself. ❤
Played darts my whole life (pushing 50 years), my nan was a good player and during school hoilidays I would stay with my grandparents and get taken to pub and working mens clubs to watch my nan, so picking a set of darts up was completly natural to me. As I got into my teens a few lads at school also played so we managed to get a board up at school. so every break we were throwing darts. Dad was also a good player and on Saturday nights we would go to a local social club and play, it was at that club where I hit my first true 180 aged 13. At 15 I started drinking in a pub that was a massive darts pub, you would walk in and before going to the bar I would go to the chalk board to get my name up to chalk. some nights it could take well over an hour to get to chalk before playing, it was always winner stays on. It was not unusual if you lost that first game not to get another game that night, there were so many people wanting to play. If you wanted a few games you learnt to win pretty quick! At 16 I was captain of the pub team and then got poached to play super league, I was playing competative darts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent practicing. I played the holiday camp comps, british open, canadian open, money matches and was lucky enough to have played all the big boys and beat them all apart from Eric in competive matches as well as exhibitions. For a time if Keith Dellar was doing an exhibition around london I was join him and open up the night playing against his and doing chalking. I never went anywhere without my darts in my pocket, my darts have been all over the world and earnt me good money. Got chased out of a bar in Florida after hussleing a couple of americans and taking over 500 dollars off them. Darts is an amazing sport with great peple and I could talk all night about it but I can't as I have a match tonight!
Rules of darts scoring simplified. You have to finish on a double or the bull. So the highest score you can get with a single dart is 60 (treble 20), but the highest finishing dart is 50 (the bullseye). As soon as you can finish with your next three darts that's a potential check out. The highest checkout is 170 (treble 20, treble 20, bullseye), but their are totals less than 170 that are impossible (169, 168, 166). Most players aim to leave double 20 or double 16 as if you miss inside then you still leave a double (double 20, double 10, double 5 or double 16, double 8, double 4).
On a, now standard, London/clock board. Up North, doubles boards, which pre-date the commonly used boards today, and leagues using them are common. They have no treble ring, and the bull has no outer (25) ring. Every game you have to start and finish on a double. Most places that caters for darts seriously will probably have both. Some less serious will swap boards in their existing cabinets/furniture but shouldn't really since they're supposed to be set at different heights.
Used to love watching darts in the 80's and played in my local pub's darts team for a while, had a board in my bedroom and spent loads of time practicing. btw a bullseye is also a finishing target similar to a double, so you could finish on 170 with treble 20, treble 20, bullseye
Regarding your point on the bullseye. It was (and still is) a double but many people use it third dart only as a miss would split the 50 score. Increasingly though the 25 is coming into play (green part of the bull known as the outer bull or bull-ring). It's use for setting up finishes and allowing more options is becoming increasingly important. 82 out for example. Used to be T14 D20 (tops). however if you hit the Single 14, you need single 18 and the bull. Go for the bull first and if you hit the bull you get D16 (favourite double for many players), hit the 25 and you get a simple single to double as oppossed to single to bull which is harder to hit s the bullseye is about 60% the size of the double.
Here in the UK, back in the 70s/80s was a TV show called bullseye were contestants would answer questions and pro darts players would play the game. We also have pro snooker/pool players
To clear up the problems you have regarding why they go for the 20s and not the bullseye it's probably best to give a basic rundown of the rules of darts plus a few basic strategies. The rules are very simple for a standard game of professional darts, each player has to clear a total of 501 points exactly and their last dart in doing so must either be a double or bullseye. You probably know that each outside number has 3 scoring zones but in case you don't I'll spell it out, there are two rings that go around the board one on the outer edge and one closer to the centre, the outside ring results in the score doubling the inside ring results in the score trebling and anywhere else on that number scores a single, The bullseye is a red circle surrounded by a green circle, the red circle scores 50 points and the green circle scores 25. From now on I will notate doubles as D and trebles as T and bullseye as Bull and a number without a letter next to it will be single so for example T20 20 D20 would mean they need to hit a treble 20 a single 20 and a Double 20. So the reason the players aim at the 20 to start with is T20 is the highest-scoring zone on the board.with the highest 3-dart score being 180 so when their at the stage where they can't finish they want to score as heavily as possible. Finishing, Because they have to finish on either a double or bullseye the highest possible finish is 170 i.e T20 T20 Bull, however a 170 finish isn't really a saught after finish for multiple reasons firstly in order to be on a 170 means you likely haven't scored that heavily in the early stages, but the main reason is players don't like to finish on a Bull the reasoning being that if they miss they won't be on a 1 dart finish as such most players aim for their finishing number to be a number that if they miss the double but hit the single that they'll still be on a single dart finish, so for example they might try to finish on 40 leaving them with D20 to finish, but if they miss and hit the 20 they will still be on a finish of D10 where as if they were on a Bull finish if they miss slightly by hitting the 25 they wouldn't be on a finish and if they miss by a lot they could hit any number on the board. Most players would also avoid other finishes that leave them on a double that would result in them not having a finish should they hit the single i.e a finish of 38 for D19 if they hit the 19 they would be on a finish of 19 which requires a minimum of 2 darts to make. For this reason most players their favorite finish is 32 leaving them with D16 as this gives them the maximum number of misses and still be on a finish i.e D16 D8 D4 D2 D1 but a lot of players go for a finish of 40 leaving D20 as they spend most of their time aiming for the 20 so it feels more familiar to aim for that area of the board and it still has a good run of single dart finishes should you hit the single i.e D20 D10 D5.
You looked a little confused at 10:03 Best of 3 = 2 players against each other, first player to win 2 games progresses to the next round 501 = score 501 to win the game From 8 foot = the line you throw from is 8 foot from the board
Ive met leonard gates u.s.a darts player i served him in my pub lovely guy very humble, was watching him on the tv the next day at a local tournament they play in Portsmouth, also met wolfie adams, simon whitlock amongst others.
In the 70’s as a Teenager I had my own Dart Board and practiced for hours sometimes eventually joining a Darts team, We were a Pub Darts team representing our Pub and would often play other pub teams, The prize was usually a Barrel of Beer I.E. How much a Barrel would cost to buy and we won quite a few which we divided up among ourselves, I got quite good and would often play others for a pint, It was a great time and I loved the game but life has a way of leading you into other things, I tried to throw a few darts a couple of years ago and I was awful lol! I’d not played or practiced for many years and without that your skill goes stale, A great Video guys and thanks for the memories. 👍🏻
This was great, I doubt I'd have ever come across this documentary myself, let alone decided to click through, but I enjoy your channel and once again I am really glad I decided to check this out 'with' you, really interesting. Also surprised that I recognised so many of the names considering I thought I knew next to nothing about Darts!
Here is a 'fun fact' about why darts players hold their darts in weird ways. If you hold them with a finger out or one finger touching the end or what ever its so that you know instantly that you are holding each dart the exact same way every time. So you it takes out one variable. If you hold each dart differently then the center of gravity of the dart will shift in your hand on the throw. Each player uses their own technique I like to hold my darts with my 3rd finger on the very end of the darts main body, called the barrel, and I too point my pinky finger out so it doesn't get in the way. That way I know that on every throw my fingers are in the same place every time, so it removes the variable of me holding the dart further back or too far forward. It's unique to every player so you find something you're comfortable with a stick with it. After a few hours it just becomes natural and as soon as you pick up a dart your fingers automatically go into the grip you prefer. It's a simple thing but that's why you see players holding/throwing darts a certain way. There's still thousands of other variables though. dart weight, dart length, different flight shapes, different flight weights. Metal stem, aluminium stem, the stem length, barrel shapes, barrel sizes, steel barrels, tungsten barrels, sharp points rounded points, different styles of grooves for grip. Finding what's right for you is a nightmare. The best thing to do is go on Amazon and buy a cheap darts set with different accessories. You can get one for about $20 and it has 4 sets of darts, all different weights, and 200 different accessories from stems to flights and everything. Spend a couple of hours getting to narrowing down to what you're best configuration is then after a couple of weeks practising and getting the feel for them you can upgrade to some good darts that have about the same specifications that you're best with. But don't pay more than $50 for a set of darts. There's a lot of darts out there with player endorsements but anything over $50 then you're just paying for the players name. Also don't be fooled by the low reviews. They are written by idiots who don't know that the little thin plastic flights and those plastic stems easily break if they're hit by another dart or fall to the floor. They're consumable and replacements are super cheap... I saw a 1 star review on a set of darts saying that he'd used them for about 5 days and one dart hit the wire on the dartboard and landed in the floor and it cracked a bit of the plastic stem. He sent them back for a refund. Those plastic stems often break but you can buy a pack of 12 for a couple of Bucks. There's some stupid people in this world.
PDC is now the only Championship as the BDC went bankrupt. Phil ‘the power’ Taylor finished his career with SIXTEEN world championship titles 💪. This year a sixteen year old made the World Championship final !
The bullseye is worth 50 and outer ring around the bull is 25. You have to finish on a double in the 501 game (there are variations where you can finish on a bull but not in the Professional Competitions). There are several ways to score more than 50 so the bull isn't as important as you'd assume. You should have a game and you'll realise how easy they make it look. The modern game has really energetic, fun crowds and look a great occasion to be part of 🍻
@stevewebster8527 I thought so but wasn't sure so checked via Google and it said what I wrote but I totally support your answer. I think Google was gaslighting me...🤔🤣
To put things further into perspective, professional players usually try to avoid finishing on the bull especially when there's money at stake which is why it's not common to see. If the player steps up needing 50 to finish and has 3 darts in their hand they will not attempt the single dart bullseye finish unless they are supremely confident and want to showboat to the audience. The common sense approach will be 18, double 16 and if they hit the single 16, they will have double 8 to fall back on with their last dart.
Treble 20 = 60 which is higher than 50 for the bullseye. 3 treble 20s is 180 which is the highest single score with 3 darts possible. You start with 501 points and have to finish on exactly 0 with either a double or the bullseye to win.
I don't know if you know the entire rule set which isn't much to remember Basically 99.9% of Pro Darts is a 501 where the aim is to get to 0 first by hitting a double to complete or win a "leg" which in sports terms generally is a point and uses a system like snooker or pool first to 10 and so on. Unless its set by set, a set is won by the first player to win 3 legs. Most tournaments will be more sets required to win for every round progressed, so 1st round might be first to 2 sets, 2nd round 3 sets and so on with the world championship finals being first to 7 sets meaning you have to win 21 legs at least to win and thats with the opponent winning zero legs. So some world finals have gone 6-6 2-2 and then sudden death with the winner getting 2 clear legs or if its 5-5 a final sudden death deciding leg wins. The quickest way to win a leg 3 x triple 20 3 x triple 20 Triple 20 triple 19 DOUBLE 12 for a 9 darter This would be the same has a baseball player hitting every single attempt a home run in a single game A snooker player getting a 147 And a bowling player getting a strike 9 times in a row
The best comparison is Ten Pin Bowling. Like Darts is really only seen as a pastime in the US so Ten Pin Bowling is in Europe. But in the US the top guys are multi-millionaires. Yet like darts it's a game for most people to use for drinking and socializing. It's relatively cheap and accessible. But despite both having a repetitive nature, both make good TV.
Thank you for a fascinating documentary reaction. Darts runs through my family like a stick of rock. My Granddad won the News of the World championship back in 1934 (we still have the trophie somewhere) & my dad was very good, aleways bringing back trophies from local pub matches when I was younger. Some of the televised stuff we see here was compulsory viewing in my house. My dad always used to tell me to shut up if I talked over a match, claiming I was distracting the players attention!
If there's one match I recommend you watch, it's definitely the 2007 World Championship final between Phil Taylor and Raymond Van Barneveld, arguably the greatest darts match of the 2000s.
Darts as a game originated in England during the medieval era in the 1300s...But it was the French who kind of started it, but England was french back then...Basically it's an English game like most other games even Motorsport is English
I used to hold a pub olympics in one of the pubs i used to run . Our competition consisted of Darts, Pool and table football...it was played in teams of two and we used to run it over a couple of months on sunday nights. On its concluding sunday we all met on a local 9 hole golf course for drunk golf....followed by a prize giving event in the pub 8n the evening....we used to have a local charactervwho awarded all the prizes who used to arrive in black tie...it was great fun and a good way to keep the locals coming in on long winter sundays.
Always watched the darts when I was younger, and I have always had a dartboard in my home. I'm 55 now and I still have a dartboard and play darts at home,
Bullseye is worth 50 points only, hence the focus on treble 20. The bullseye is special in that if you find yourself on 50 points & you're looking to checkout the bull is a legal checkout, only doubles & the bull can be used to checkout/finish.
I don't know for sure, but the old dartboards, wasn't it more difficult to hit the trebles because they were smaller, and the wires were more likely to cause bounce outs? I think modern boards have wires shaped so bounce outs are far less common.
Being from Stoke-on-Trent, I had no idea this all started in Stoke-on-Trent! (I knew about our Jollees darts venue, I just didn't know it all 'started' there, I thought everywhere would have had their own Jollees)
Darts did for sport what the pistols did for music. Lowered the bar for entry. Btw, in answer to your question about the choice of throw, you have to finish each game on a double.
The typical game is 501 down. The first to score 501 points, and exactly 501, not more, wins, counting down, so you always know how many points each player has still to score. The highest score for 1 dart is 60 points, for treble 20, which is the inner ring in the 20 section. So the maximum score for a hand of three darts is 180, by hitting treble 20 three times in a row. The outer ring is doubles. So it actually requires a great head for mental arithmetic, as well as accuracy and consistency. One game of 501 down is a "leg", and a match is a certain number of legs. A bit like how a tennis match is a certain number of "sets". I think, because I don't know, but I think that once you're within 180 of getting down to zero, so when you could potentially win, or "go out" in the next hand, each consecutive dart as the number counts down, has to hit a smaller number section. You can only win on a double, or a single odd number when the count is that low. So that would be why that time after going from 40 needed down to 20 by hitting single 20 (by accident, when he was going for a double 20), Eric Bristow had to go for a double 10. You only bother with the bullseye if you need exactly 25 to finish and win. I'm just an occasional fan when it was on TV and I was still watching TV. But with what I've said, you've got the basis for how to play a proper British, or World Darts style game of 501 down with the two of you.
I enjoyed watching this (with a few breaks) you guys looked like you were having fun. To win you have to finish on a double, so for 20 to finish you need double 10. The outer ring of the bull scores 25 the inner bull's eye is the double 25 (50)
Take a look at British pub games, some of which are regional like the different dart boards. From bar billiards (with mushrooms)???? To bar skittles, shove ha'penny, hood skittles and petanque. Obviously I've seen pool in both British pubs and American bars. I've also seen some equivalents in some western European pubs but Canada has some too, I've enjoyed a few games of "Shuffle board" in Canadian pubs and mostly got slaughtered, at the game and through drinking!
You should look at a famous dart player from the 80's, Jockey Wilson is his name. He lived in the same council estate as me in my home town here in Scotland,, my dad used to drink with him in the local pub. Jockey Wilson used to play people for pints and won all the time, he then turned professional in the early 80s
I'm from Dunfermline, next town over. I remember when Jockey Wilson played. My mum and dad always watched. They were big dart and snooker fans. I remember there was one main commentator and when Jockey won he said they'll be singing and Highland flinging in KirkaLdy tonight. It really wound my dad up lol
Darts is a complex set of rings with numbers ranging from 1 - 20 around the clock face, the thin outer coloured ring is the double, the next thin ring is the treble and at the centre you have 25 and bull 50. The best treble to hit is 20 and if you hit it 3 times then you get a maximum of 180. Predominantly treble 20 and treble 19 are the most common as they give you the most points. To finish the game it must either be on a double on the outer ring or on the bull, the 25 is not an out shot. The maximum out on one throw is 170, treble 20, treble 20 and bull. The least amount of darts that can be thrown in one leg is a 9 darter, a fabulous display of skill and accuracy is required and I would recommend watching Smith v Van Gerwin where they both matched each others darts right down to the last throw. Nice video 😊
My first job in the 70s'. Work colleague was a guy called Terry James, (world pairs darts champion with Leighton Rees).Played in the league and various competitions, went on tours with Eric Bristow and other players. He made me stand side on in front of a notice board at work with a pencil in my mouth whilst he stood 10 feet away and embedded the first dart he threw in the pencil. By the way in darts you have to finish in a double bed on the board. Known as a "chckout".
501 is a leg in all the pdc stuff, which is the top tier of darts. If you can take it out in nine darts, finishing on a double it's the perfect leg. But it's mainly getting down to a finish first. I.E a double. A few good American players, one just got a tour card to play in the pdc stuff this year, Danny lauby is his name, a fast left handed player, and a Dutch American called Jules van dongen. You should keep an eye the games and you will pick up on it handy.
That documentary and your reaction was brilliant really enjoyed that Will either of you be buying a dart board ? 😄 On a completely different sport have you watched the 1985 World Snooker final ? EPIC
these games like you said, and all players started in the pubs, the clubs, which are the heart of the community, and still are to a point, These darts matches, snooker and pool, domino's still go today in the pubs and club with mini leagues,
your guys, when they came here in 1943 to help with the war effort, loved the pub culture and darts, they played it often, as you said its anyones game for all skill levels,
Have a look for first televised 9 dart finish. Luke Littler in this year's world championship. 16 years old. Also take a look at snooker. The Masters has just finished, the top 16 players only. No qualifiers. Ronnie O'Sulivan is the goat, have a look at fastest 147. Other uniquely British sports include indoor bowls. Its not just old men in slacks, it can get quite intense.
When scoring you want the highest possible so you aim for the treble 20 .. You have to finish with a double or a bullseye, so with the bull you can finish on 50 whereas to finish on a double you have to be on 40 or below ... It makes the 170 finish possible (2 X treble 20's and a bull to finish)
I used to play darts with my mates in the pub, and with some locals it was very competitive . I was never any good at it , but some others were and took it really seriously , I’ve never really watched it on tv though. But it’s a big part of British culture. And it’s pub related. But also it like asking a British oerson how they feel about baseball, it’s obviously massive in the US but in the UK it’s just a silly game that made us play at school
bullseye scores 50 points but treble 20 scores 60 so treble 20 will always give you highest score you get 3 darts each go so you can theoretically score treble 20 three times and score 180, this is the highest possible score with your 3 darts. to finish a leg you have to end on a double, so if you need 40 you need to get double 20, if you miss and score 20 you only have 20 left so now you need double ten. the only exception to finishing on a double is that if you need 50 you can finish on a bullseye so if you need 170 with your 3 darts you can hit, treble 20, treble20 then bullseye to win. 170 is the highests checkout you can achieve with 3 darts.
TOTALLY Understandable that Eric Bristow went for a single "18" leaving (for him) an easy one-dart finish of 32( Double 16) but he assumed the young lad would not finish on 138 which involved a Treble 20=60 then a Treble 18=54 leaving 24 (Souble 12) which is EXTREMELY difficult let alone for a young rookie,nervously,throwing for THe World Title and who missed several much easier chances earlier but HE DID IT and Eric never got to throw any more darts in the match.
what's great about darts on TV is the instant WIN/NOT WON YET of the close-up of the double,......and then a dart thunks in, appears out of nowhere and you have instant win/fail. In many sports, the "goal/score" has a build up, you see a ball approaching one end, you see a a shot from far and can tell if it's a possible goal, or just crap, but you don't see the dart coming, and EVERY dart is almost a "goal"
The game is pretty simple. You start off with 501 and have to finish with 0 on a double. The highest score is triple 20, (60), which outguns the bullseye of 50. You can, (and these professional darts players often did), do a 9 dart finish to win the leg. If you miss the double on the last throw and go over the remaining, then you score 0. If it's under, then the score is taken off what remains, with the lowest possible score being 2, which would required a double 1 to finish. The most popular finish is double top, (two 20's.) Missing that and only getting a single, (with darts left), would mean going for double 10 and if you missed that, double 5. The amount of pressure on to finish is really something, especially if it means winning or losing. As a spectator sport, it can be quite engrossing to watch. The, 'beer gut', and drinking pints during a match was nothing more than a stereotype that was made fun of. They should really have just taken it for what it was. A bit of fun poking. That particular show, (Not The Nine o'clock News), took the rise out of everyone. So, they weren't particularly having a go at darts players, per se. It's the idea of them having a drinking contest, whilst casually playing darts in the background, that was funny. The, 'beer gut', was just a comical addition and wasn't particularly indicative of any particular darts player. Although, there were a few who did possess one, it never got in the way, (figuratively speaking), of their ability to play.
As a brit I'm both proud and gobsmacked by darts. Its totally silly but 100% very serious. Its almost in our blood as ex archers...it totally sums Britain up, pub, beer, darts, meat raffle. Darts and snooker players used to appear on tv completely smashed but still play brilliantly...and we worshipped them for it 😂.
As an amusing aside, the darts TV game show "Bullseye" is legendary. The host Jim Bowen would try and put people off, then if someone won the prize would be a decanter, if they lost he'd say "look what you could have won" and they'd show them a car or speedboat 😂
I'd forgotten about the 1985 Snooker world championship.
Dennis Taylor vs Steve Davis.
One of 'em won 18-17 on a final black ball. It went on a bit late.
Sod all happened the following day as the entire country was asleep.
I was nine staying up to watch it with my uncle. Awesome memories and sleep I'm still chasing but I wouldn't change it.
No shit, I was 10 and HAD to go to bed and wanted Dennis to win so bad but went to sleep thinking he'd lost, and the viewing figures were in excess of 15/16 million or something! Half the teachers didn't want to be at school!
This is a top reccomendation.
Watched it with me Grandad when I was 7. That and Barry McGuigan winning his title fight are two of many sporting events we watched together cheering on The Irish. Thrilling stuff.
🎯🇬🇧🍻 I'm from Stoke-on-Trent, Eric Bristow (5x World Champion) used to be my neighbour, and Maureen was my landlady at my local pub...👍
You have to finish on a double, so you start on 501 and work down to 0.
You can finish also on a bull which is worth 50, outer bull is 25, but you can't finish on that!!...😉
"When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer … Bristow's only 27."
"If we'd had Phil Taylor at Hastings against the Normans, they'd have gone home"
"The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in with a portion of chips, you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them."
- Sid Waddell
Legend.
"there's only one word for that: magic darts."
Bullseye scores 50 but it can also be used as Double for a finish (although it's value remains 50 not 100), all games must be finished on a Double, some tournaments are Double In/Double Out meaning you start with a Double and finish on a Double
My dad played darts for the local pub and told me about a guy he used to know who could throw nails into the dartboard, obviously not during official league games but just to show off his skills.
One thing this documentary doesn't mention is the TV quiz show "Bullseye" which was hugely popular at the time and in turn made darts more popular too. There were three teams of two people, one dart player and the other who answered the questions to win the amount of money the dart player had scored. The team that advanced the furthest would then have both of the team throw darts to win prizes and they could gamble all of their money/prizes at the end by scoring 101 or more to win a star prize. (normally a speedboat!)
Growing up in the 80’s darts was a very big deal, I dunno what it’s like in America but it’s very common for kids to go to pubs with their parents not so much now it’s more common now for kids to go pub with their parents for a meal or an event like a family party but in the 80’s you would be sat at the table with your cousins with a coke or an orange and a packet of crisps whilst your parents were playing darts lol
My grandfather played in the news of the world tournament.
Slight correction at 7:28 - he didn't say het was going to hit 1280... He said he was going to hit 12 - 180s! So hit the treble 20 3 times with 3 darts... 12 times. It's the highest single score you can get, it's like a 147 in snooker (kind of). I just wanted it to be clear how confident he was.
I’ve hit 180 plenty of times and eventually I could see me hit 180x3,my highest break is like 12 and I’ll never 147 even if I spend the rest of my life trying-just saying ✌️
Incorrect. A 147 is more like a 9 dart finish.
Eric Bristow played in one of my town's local pubs one night. People could play against him. I don't play the game but have noticed the popularity of the game is growing again. Have to say when we met Eric, such a lovely chap.
Something that has always made me smile was then when I was a teenager and left school in the early 90s , I got my first job in a local printing factory in the north west UK, all the employees were local working class people , one of them was around 10 yrs older than me , but was always mocked about how thick and stupid he was. But he was great at darts and could calculate the finishes in a flash, you could just give him a random number and in second he’d say something like double top, triple 19, double 5 etc etc, and was always right. I thought that was really cool.
I wasn't long out of school when darts became big, the pub I usually drank in had pinball and asteroids but no dart board. Whenever I was in a pub that had a dartboard there was always some old thicker than pigshit ex schoolmate eager play a game, and just like your mate, he would tell me I needed triple 17 and double tops to finnish before I had worked out double 20 = 40, never mind deduct 40 from my total to work out what I had left, far less what I would have to hit to be left with a double.
For anybody not from Britain it seems crazy but the pub culture was massive at one time here and darts was played in every pub. It was an extremely popular and very inexpensive pastime. Everyone could have a go. The tension of watching two top players on tv playing darts took off in a big way massively and now its just crazy how much these pros can make.
There was a documentary called 'Arrows', made about Eric Bristow and shown in the cinema all around the UK in 1980- it was the 2nd feature to the classic British crime film, The Long Good Friday.
Drinking beer and throwing sharp objects.. very British
it might have already been said, you have to finish on a double, eric had 40 left to score, double 20 equals 40, he hit the 20, which means his score is 20 to win, so he went for the double 10, which makes 20.
"Pub Olympics" is absolutely spot on. Lot of that here on TV in the UK in the 70s/80s. Darts, snooker especially. All of them smoking and drinking away, but included in "sport" :) Always loved Eric Bristow.
Darts & snooker...the early '80's was a great time growing up...
It looks easier than it is. Trust me it takes a lot more talent than ppl think. The new kid on the block this year Luke Littler he’s amazing watch out for his career he’s only 16 and made it to this years final.
My Nan used to play darts regularly. She was part of a darts team that used to play other clubs, and she used to win. I remember the small trophies she used to display. She played up until her early 80's. 😊
The dexy's "jocky wilson" thing is actually a funny story according to his book Kevin Rowland is a massive darts fan so would refer to the song as "Jocky Wilson said" at shows etc including deliberately changing the lyrics. Apparently it had been a long tour and he asked for the photo behind them as a joke.
Lovin the Darts video reaction of some oldschool legends. You guys need to look at a few Snooker players and do a reaction video of Alex Higgins, Ronnie O'Sullivan Best matches & 147 breaks
Was just thinking the same thing.
"he's not the under dog, he's the under puppy".
Keith Deller.
I was 12 in 1980 and my parents were big fans of darts and snooker. They always watched the championships on TV. I wasn't interested but im sitting here watching this, recognising all the faces and able to put their names to all the players. Amazing 😊
WOW I'm same.
The Welsh valleys were very close communities.
Every pub would have a darts team in the bar.
Notice how Eric Bristow instantly knew the difference between a 136 finish and a 138 finish, and which was easier and why.
He was like a computer at the board, and this gave him a big edge at the time.
You could see other players have to break their rhythm and start doing mental arithmetic to see what their next shot was.
He played,ny far, the right percentage call but Keith found inspiration.:)
You will be amazed to see what the World Championship at The Alexandra Palace on Sky is like now if you can get hold of it the country was captivated this year by a 16 year old who got to the final Luke Littler crazy crowds dressed up with the odd 10 pints consumed You really need to see Snooker that is really a cut above Pool in my mindRonnie O`Sullivan is very special a champion for it must be 30 years or so very very skilful game
💯 my son is a good football player lives for football Norwich city season ticket holder but because of littler we now own a new dart board he got a darts shirt and darts with Norwich flights and his name on them 😂 superb
Ronnie is the greatest snooker player of all time for all time and I say that with great confidence and for sure he’s one of the greatest sportsman to grace the earth ✌️
Ronnie is the greatest snooker player of all time for all time and I say that with great confidence and for sure he’s one of the greatest sportsman to grace the earth ✌️
My local pub used to have a competition where we played bar skittles, pool and darts, like a mini bar Olympics, I was always a better pool player but was decent at darts, I played in a pool comp against Mark Selby once who's won the snooker world champs since, there's a UK pool comp where anyone can enter so if you're lucky you can get drawn against a top pro player in the early rounds. When I lived in Brighton I played for my local pubs pool team and the leagues are excellent down there, we'd play the American rack or rail rules too, we'd have lock ins playing money games until 3am, not quite the money in this video but we'd play £100 a game. In the 70's when Bristow and Lowe were at their peak it was incredible, every kid had a dart board on the wall in their bedroom, every sports shop in town had a whole dept where you'd go and get kitted out with darts, there were endless varieties of different barrels, shafts and flights, you could spend hours in their trying to find that magical combo which worked best for you.
Professional Darts is one of the purest and most technical sports there is, as a spectacle Pro Darts is undeniable, a 9 Dart finish is one of the hardest feats in all of sport, 7 Treble 20s, a Treble 19 and a Double 12 to finish from a 501 start, 9 perfect darts in a row, the current World Champion Luke Humphries received £500k for winning the Title, the other finalist Luke Littler was only 16 and received £250k, the World Championship trophy has been renamed the Sid Waddell Trophy since his passing
There's more than one 9-dart finish in fact there are 3944 combinations of 9 dart finishes there are 3 common ways of finishing the standard 141 finish you can do a 9-darter with finishes other than 141
@@24magiccarrot Yes i know, i was giving an example of the most common way you would see it in the Pros
I think there is a growing trend toward going
T20 T20 T20
T19 T19 T19
T20 Bull D20
Pros are going for T19 early in a leg more often and leaving yourself on D20 is a better out in case you miss.
In the past most pubs had a Darts boards and many had a Darts team.. It was a natural evolution for it to appear on TV.. Beer and Darts have always gone together..
"When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer... Eric Bristow is only 27." - Sid Widdell
One thing this documentary didn't mention is that when Darts was in it's early 1980's boom it inspired a TV gameshow called Bullseye that aired Sunday afternoons on ITV from 1981 to 1995.
At the height of it's popularity Bullseye was getting audiences of around 17 million people and became iconic in British pop culture.
Even today if you say to a British person "You can't beat a bit off bully" almost everyone in the UK will know what you're referencing.
Snooker has the same working class roots and got big when it started being televised. It’s now massive and highly popular in China. Some Chinese players atr starting to become champs. It’s similar to pool but much more difficult mainly because the tables are huge and the scoring system is complicated but not impossible. To begin with you must pot a red ball, which stays down, for one point. Then a coloured ball then a red. The colours come back up to their allotted spot until all the red balls are down then the colours have to be potted in strict order finishing on black. Each colour has a set number of points with black scoring 7 points then in a descending order of value. Ronnie O’Sullivan is the goat. His dad is in prison for murder which gives you an idea of the social class of where Snooker comes from although it was British army officers that invented the game adapted from an Indian one
A great pub game we used to play in our local that got the entire place fascinated. Pin a £20 note over the Bullseye, stand 10 feet away from the board and the first to hit the note with a dart wins the £20. Try it. We had the whole pub competing for hours. A very drunk teenager won. Eventually :o)
Bear in mind here in the UK we only had 3 TV Channels , BBC1 , BBC2 & ITV ...Channel 4 would arrive in 1982, So there was sod all to watch 😁
Ive played darts since I was 13, we had a dart board at home. I played in a league with my mum and nan and we did ok, but always lost to County players who were great. I used to win a lot of my matches and because of this some of the teams questioned my age, I used to lie and say I was older even though I was still at school! The bullseye is worth 50, and the outer bull section is 25. You can finish the game on the bullseye or a double section round the outer edge of the board (called checking out). I am so glad you found this to react to, I haven't seen it before and really enjoyed it. Phil Taylor has now retired from competitive darts, but he won an amazing 16 world titles amongst many other achievements and will be a tough act to better. My daughters middle name is Taylor, named after the man himself. ❤
Played darts my whole life (pushing 50 years), my nan was a good player and during school hoilidays I would stay with my grandparents and get taken to pub and working mens clubs to watch my nan, so picking a set of darts up was completly natural to me. As I got into my teens a few lads at school also played so we managed to get a board up at school. so every break we were throwing darts. Dad was also a good player and on Saturday nights we would go to a local social club and play, it was at that club where I hit my first true 180 aged 13.
At 15 I started drinking in a pub that was a massive darts pub, you would walk in and before going to the bar I would go to the chalk board to get my name up to chalk. some nights it could take well over an hour to get to chalk before playing, it was always winner stays on. It was not unusual if you lost that first game not to get another game that night, there were so many people wanting to play. If you wanted a few games you learnt to win pretty quick!
At 16 I was captain of the pub team and then got poached to play super league, I was playing competative darts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent practicing.
I played the holiday camp comps, british open, canadian open, money matches and was lucky enough to have played all the big boys and beat them all apart from Eric in competive matches as well as exhibitions. For a time if Keith Dellar was doing an exhibition around london I was join him and open up the night playing against his and doing chalking.
I never went anywhere without my darts in my pocket, my darts have been all over the world and earnt me good money. Got chased out of a bar in Florida after hussleing a couple of americans and taking over 500 dollars off them.
Darts is an amazing sport with great peple and I could talk all night about it but I can't as I have a match tonight!
Glad you had to go to a match. You'd already waffled enough!
Best reaction that I've ever seen. I watched so many of those matches...You guys brought back so many memories. Thankyou.
Rules of darts scoring simplified. You have to finish on a double or the bull. So the highest score you can get with a single dart is 60 (treble 20), but the highest finishing dart is 50 (the bullseye). As soon as you can finish with your next three darts that's a potential check out. The highest checkout is 170 (treble 20, treble 20, bullseye), but their are totals less than 170 that are impossible (169, 168, 166). Most players aim to leave double 20 or double 16 as if you miss inside then you still leave a double (double 20, double 10, double 5 or double 16, double 8, double 4).
On a, now standard, London/clock board. Up North, doubles boards, which pre-date the commonly used boards today, and leagues using them are common. They have no treble ring, and the bull has no outer (25) ring. Every game you have to start and finish on a double. Most places that caters for darts seriously will probably have both. Some less serious will swap boards in their existing cabinets/furniture but shouldn't really since they're supposed to be set at different heights.
Used to love watching darts in the 80's and played in my local pub's darts team for a while, had a board in my bedroom and spent loads of time practicing. btw a bullseye is also a finishing target similar to a double, so you could finish on 170 with treble 20, treble 20, bullseye
Regarding your point on the bullseye. It was (and still is) a double but many people use it third dart only as a miss would split the 50 score. Increasingly though the 25 is coming into play (green part of the bull known as the outer bull or bull-ring). It's use for setting up finishes and allowing more options is becoming increasingly important.
82 out for example. Used to be T14 D20 (tops). however if you hit the Single 14, you need single 18 and the bull. Go for the bull first and if you hit the bull you get D16 (favourite double for many players), hit the 25 and you get a simple single to double as oppossed to single to bull which is harder to hit s the bullseye is about 60% the size of the double.
Here in the UK, back in the 70s/80s was a TV show called bullseye were contestants would answer questions and pro darts players would play the game. We also have pro snooker/pool players
To clear up the problems you have regarding why they go for the 20s and not the bullseye it's probably best to give a basic rundown of the rules of darts plus a few basic strategies.
The rules are very simple for a standard game of professional darts, each player has to clear a total of 501 points exactly and their last dart in doing so must either be a double or bullseye.
You probably know that each outside number has 3 scoring zones but in case you don't I'll spell it out, there are two rings that go around the board one on the outer edge and one closer to the centre, the outside ring results in the score doubling the inside ring results in the score trebling and anywhere else on that number scores a single, The bullseye is a red circle surrounded by a green circle, the red circle scores 50 points and the green circle scores 25. From now on I will notate doubles as D and trebles as T and bullseye as Bull and a number without a letter next to it will be single so for example T20 20 D20 would mean they need to hit a treble 20 a single 20 and a Double 20.
So the reason the players aim at the 20 to start with is T20 is the highest-scoring zone on the board.with the highest 3-dart score being 180 so when their at the stage where they can't finish they want to score as heavily as possible.
Finishing, Because they have to finish on either a double or bullseye the highest possible finish is 170 i.e T20 T20 Bull, however a 170 finish isn't really a saught after finish for multiple reasons firstly in order to be on a 170 means you likely haven't scored that heavily in the early stages, but the main reason is players don't like to finish on a Bull the reasoning being that if they miss they won't be on a 1 dart finish as such most players aim for their finishing number to be a number that if they miss the double but hit the single that they'll still be on a single dart finish, so for example they might try to finish on 40 leaving them with D20 to finish, but if they miss and hit the 20 they will still be on a finish of D10 where as if they were on a Bull finish if they miss slightly by hitting the 25 they wouldn't be on a finish and if they miss by a lot they could hit any number on the board. Most players would also avoid other finishes that leave them on a double that would result in them not having a finish should they hit the single i.e a finish of 38 for D19 if they hit the 19 they would be on a finish of 19 which requires a minimum of 2 darts to make. For this reason most players their favorite finish is 32 leaving them with D16 as this gives them the maximum number of misses and still be on a finish i.e D16 D8 D4 D2 D1 but a lot of players go for a finish of 40 leaving D20 as they spend most of their time aiming for the 20 so it feels more familiar to aim for that area of the board and it still has a good run of single dart finishes should you hit the single i.e D20 D10 D5.
thanks for this guys, made my Monday evening,two thumbs up.
Thanks for that video lads. I grew up watching these players, but hadn’t seen that documentary. I learnt so much about the history of the sport.
You looked a little confused at 10:03
Best of 3 = 2 players against each other, first player to win 2 games progresses to the next round
501 = score 501 to win the game
From 8 foot = the line you throw from is 8 foot from the board
Ive met leonard gates u.s.a darts player i served him in my pub lovely guy very humble, was watching him on the tv the next day at a local tournament they play in Portsmouth, also met wolfie adams, simon whitlock amongst others.
In the 70’s as a Teenager I had my own Dart Board and practiced for hours sometimes eventually joining a Darts team, We were a Pub Darts team representing our Pub and would often play other pub teams, The prize was usually a Barrel of Beer I.E. How much a Barrel would cost to buy and we won quite a few which we divided up among ourselves, I got quite good and would often play others for a pint, It was a great time and I loved the game but life has a way of leading you into other things, I tried to throw a few darts a couple of years ago and I was awful lol! I’d not played or practiced for many years and without that your skill goes stale, A great Video guys and thanks for the memories. 👍🏻
It's got pointy things and beer.
What's not to like?
Even Stephen Fry is a superfan.
Darts is massive now, I love it! On a sad note Eric Bristow, who was now a commentator, collapsed and died at a big darts event about 5 years ago.
This was great, I doubt I'd have ever come across this documentary myself, let alone decided to click through, but I enjoy your channel and once again I am really glad I decided to check this out 'with' you, really interesting. Also surprised that I recognised so many of the names considering I thought I knew next to nothing about Darts!
Here is a 'fun fact' about why darts players hold their darts in weird ways.
If you hold them with a finger out or one finger touching the end or what ever its so that you know instantly that you are holding each dart the exact same way every time. So you it takes out one variable. If you hold each dart differently then the center of gravity of the dart will shift in your hand on the throw.
Each player uses their own technique I like to hold my darts with my 3rd finger on the very end of the darts main body, called the barrel, and I too point my pinky finger out so it doesn't get in the way. That way I know that on every throw my fingers are in the same place every time, so it removes the variable of me holding the dart further back or too far forward.
It's unique to every player so you find something you're comfortable with a stick with it. After a few hours it just becomes natural and as soon as you pick up a dart your fingers automatically go into the grip you prefer.
It's a simple thing but that's why you see players holding/throwing darts a certain way.
There's still thousands of other variables though. dart weight, dart length, different flight shapes, different flight weights. Metal stem, aluminium stem, the stem length, barrel shapes, barrel sizes, steel barrels, tungsten barrels, sharp points rounded points, different styles of grooves for grip. Finding what's right for you is a nightmare.
The best thing to do is go on Amazon and buy a cheap darts set with different accessories. You can get one for about $20 and it has 4 sets of darts, all different weights, and 200 different accessories from stems to flights and everything. Spend a couple of hours getting to narrowing down to what you're best configuration is then after a couple of weeks practising and getting the feel for them you can upgrade to some good darts that have about the same specifications that you're best with. But don't pay more than $50 for a set of darts. There's a lot of darts out there with player endorsements but anything over $50 then you're just paying for the players name.
Also don't be fooled by the low reviews. They are written by idiots who don't know that the little thin plastic flights and those plastic stems easily break if they're hit by another dart or fall to the floor. They're consumable and replacements are super cheap... I saw a 1 star review on a set of darts saying that he'd used them for about 5 days and one dart hit the wire on the dartboard and landed in the floor and it cracked a bit of the plastic stem. He sent them back for a refund. Those plastic stems often break but you can buy a pack of 12 for a couple of Bucks.
There's some stupid people in this world.
PDC is now the only Championship as the BDC went bankrupt. Phil ‘the power’ Taylor finished his career with SIXTEEN world championship titles 💪. This year a sixteen year old made the World Championship final !
PDC is now the only Championship as the BDC ...BDC?? i think you mean BDO
Everybody in the crowd being as drunk as pirates, helps the atmosphere. Its a great night out
54:42 It wasn't THEIR homage to Jackie Wilson, it was Van Morrison who wrote the song. Dexy's version is a cover.
The bullseye is worth 50 and outer ring around the bull is 25. You have to finish on a double in the 501 game (there are variations where you can finish on a bull but not in the Professional Competitions).
There are several ways to score more than 50 so the bull isn't as important as you'd assume. You should have a game and you'll realise how easy they make it look. The modern game has really energetic, fun crowds and look a great occasion to be part of 🍻
Yes you can finish on the bull in professional competitions, the most prestigious finish being 170 (treble 20, treble 20, bullseye)
@stevewebster8527 I thought so but wasn't sure so checked via Google and it said what I wrote but I totally support your answer. I think Google was gaslighting me...🤔🤣
@@davidbirchall832 I think someone recently did a triple-bull checkout (150 checkout). Normally, you'd go Bull, triple 20, double 20.
To put things further into perspective, professional players usually try to avoid finishing on the bull especially when there's money at stake which is why it's not common to see.
If the player steps up needing 50 to finish and has 3 darts in their hand they will not attempt the single dart bullseye finish unless they are supremely confident and want to showboat to the audience.
The common sense approach will be 18, double 16 and if they hit the single 16, they will have double 8 to fall back on with their last dart.
@@miff227 The 'Alan Evans' shot
Scottish legend Jocky Wilson V Terry Down in 1985 . Terry was the slowest dart player ever 🐌 , to say Jocky wasn't happy is an understatement .
Treble 20 = 60 which is higher than 50 for the bullseye. 3 treble 20s is 180 which is the highest single score with 3 darts possible. You start with 501 points and have to finish on exactly 0 with either a double or the bullseye to win.
I don't know if you know the entire rule set which isn't much to remember
Basically 99.9% of Pro Darts is a 501 where the aim is to get to 0 first by hitting a double to complete or win a "leg" which in sports terms generally is a point and uses a system like snooker or pool first to 10 and so on. Unless its set by set, a set is won by the first player to win 3 legs. Most tournaments will be more sets required to win for every round progressed, so 1st round might be first to 2 sets, 2nd round 3 sets and so on with the world championship finals being first to 7 sets meaning you have to win 21 legs at least to win and thats with the opponent winning zero legs. So some world finals have gone 6-6 2-2 and then sudden death with the winner getting 2 clear legs or if its 5-5 a final sudden death deciding leg wins.
The quickest way to win a leg
3 x triple 20
3 x triple 20
Triple 20 triple 19
DOUBLE 12 for a 9 darter
This would be the same has a baseball player hitting every single attempt a home run in a single game
A snooker player getting a 147
And a bowling player getting a strike 9 times in a row
I love that,For the Two American people That Watch, genius one liner and probably true
The best comparison is Ten Pin Bowling. Like Darts is really only seen as a pastime in the US so Ten Pin Bowling is in Europe. But in the US the top guys are multi-millionaires. Yet like darts it's a game for most people to use for drinking and socializing. It's relatively cheap and accessible. But despite both having a repetitive nature, both make good TV.
Thank you for a fascinating documentary reaction. Darts runs through my family like a stick of rock. My Granddad won the News of the World championship back in 1934 (we still have the trophie somewhere) & my dad was very good, aleways bringing back trophies from local pub matches when I was younger. Some of the televised stuff we see here was compulsory viewing in my house. My dad always used to tell me to shut up if I talked over a match, claiming I was distracting the players attention!
Pub games like darts, snooker, pool, have ALWAYS been big over our manor
If there's one match I recommend you watch, it's definitely the 2007 World Championship final between Phil Taylor and Raymond Van Barneveld, arguably the greatest darts match of the 2000s.
and the right man won
The highlighting of the Drinking and Smoking culture wasn't reserved exclusively for Darts, Snooker also suffered from the same treatment
Darts as a game originated in England during the medieval era in the 1300s...But it was the French who kind of started it, but England was french back then...Basically it's an English game like most other games even Motorsport is English
I used to hold a pub olympics in one of the pubs i used to run . Our competition consisted of Darts, Pool and table football...it was played in teams of two and we used to run it over a couple of months on sunday nights. On its concluding sunday we all met on a local 9 hole golf course for drunk golf....followed by a prize giving event in the pub 8n the evening....we used to have a local charactervwho awarded all the prizes who used to arrive in black tie...it was great fun and a good way to keep the locals coming in on long winter sundays.
Always watched the darts when I was younger, and I have always had a dartboard in my home. I'm 55 now and I still have a dartboard and play darts at home,
Bullseye is worth 50 points only, hence the focus on treble 20. The bullseye is special in that if you find yourself on 50 points & you're looking to checkout the bull is a legal checkout, only doubles & the bull can be used to checkout/finish.
I don't know for sure, but the old dartboards, wasn't it more difficult to hit the trebles because they were smaller, and the wires were more likely to cause bounce outs?
I think modern boards have wires shaped so bounce outs are far less common.
Being from Stoke-on-Trent, I had no idea this all started in Stoke-on-Trent! (I knew about our Jollees darts venue, I just didn't know it all 'started' there, I thought everywhere would have had their own Jollees)
PDC 2007 World Cup Final. Phil Taylor v Raymond Van Barnaveld is a classic final to watch
You've got to finish on a double to win the game EG double 20 is 40 so if you hit 20 you need double 10 and so on
Darts did for sport what the pistols did for music. Lowered the bar for entry. Btw, in answer to your question about the choice of throw, you have to finish each game on a double.
Or a bullseye .
2:26 R.I.P. Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow (Hackney (Londen), 25 april 1957 - Liverpool, 5 april 2018),
The typical game is 501 down. The first to score 501 points, and exactly 501, not more, wins, counting down, so you always know how many points each player has still to score. The highest score for 1 dart is 60 points, for treble 20, which is the inner ring in the 20 section. So the maximum score for a hand of three darts is 180, by hitting treble 20 three times in a row. The outer ring is doubles. So it actually requires a great head for mental arithmetic, as well as accuracy and consistency. One game of 501 down is a "leg", and a match is a certain number of legs. A bit like how a tennis match is a certain number of "sets".
I think, because I don't know, but I think that once you're within 180 of getting down to zero, so when you could potentially win, or "go out" in the next hand, each consecutive dart as the number counts down, has to hit a smaller number section. You can only win on a double, or a single odd number when the count is that low. So that would be why that time after going from 40 needed down to 20 by hitting single 20 (by accident, when he was going for a double 20), Eric Bristow had to go for a double 10. You only bother with the bullseye if you need exactly 25 to finish and win.
I'm just an occasional fan when it was on TV and I was still watching TV. But with what I've said, you've got the basis for how to play a proper British, or World Darts style game of 501 down with the two of you.
I enjoyed watching this (with a few breaks) you guys looked like you were having fun.
To win you have to finish on a double, so for 20 to finish you need double 10.
The outer ring of the bull scores 25 the inner bull's eye is the double 25 (50)
Take a look at British pub games, some of which are regional like the different dart boards. From bar billiards (with mushrooms)???? To bar skittles, shove ha'penny, hood skittles and petanque. Obviously I've seen pool in both British pubs and American bars. I've also seen some equivalents in some western European pubs but Canada has some too, I've enjoyed a few games of "Shuffle board" in Canadian pubs and mostly got slaughtered, at the game and through drinking!
You should look at a famous dart player from the 80's, Jockey Wilson is his name. He lived in the same council estate as me in my home town here in Scotland,, my dad used to drink with him in the local pub. Jockey Wilson used to play people for pints and won all the time, he then turned professional in the early 80s
I'm from Dunfermline, next town over. I remember when Jockey Wilson played. My mum and dad always watched. They were big dart and snooker fans. I remember there was one main commentator and when Jockey won he said they'll be singing and Highland flinging in KirkaLdy tonight. It really wound my dad up lol
Didn't you watch as far as "Jocky" (no e in his name) Wilson in this video?
@@davejones2823 I did indeed. He played more than once lol
@@ladykaycey I was referring to Kevin
@@davejones2823 sorry, my mistake 🙂
Darts is a complex set of rings with numbers ranging from 1 - 20 around the clock face, the thin outer coloured ring is the double, the next thin ring is the treble and at the centre you have 25 and bull 50. The best treble to hit is 20 and if you hit it 3 times then you get a maximum of 180. Predominantly treble 20 and treble 19 are the most common as they give you the most points. To finish the game it must either be on a double on the outer ring or on the bull, the 25 is not an out shot. The maximum out on one throw is 170, treble 20, treble 20 and bull. The least amount of darts that can be thrown in one leg is a 9 darter, a fabulous display of skill and accuracy is required and I would recommend watching Smith v Van Gerwin where they both matched each others darts right down to the last throw. Nice video 😊
Don't forget to look into snooker it's massive in uk.
Your name suits NON Ronnie snooker.. zzz :)
My first job in the 70s'. Work colleague was a guy called Terry James, (world pairs darts champion with Leighton Rees).Played in the league and various competitions, went on tours with Eric Bristow and other players. He made me stand side on in front of a notice board at work with a pencil in my mouth whilst he stood 10 feet away and embedded the first dart he threw in the pencil. By the way in darts you have to finish in a double bed on the board. Known as a "chckout".
Really enjoyed this! I remember watching darts in the 80s it still draws huge crowds!
501 is a leg in all the pdc stuff, which is the top tier of darts. If you can take it out in nine darts, finishing on a double it's the perfect leg. But it's mainly getting down to a finish first. I.E a double. A few good American players, one just got a tour card to play in the pdc stuff this year, Danny lauby is his name, a fast left handed player, and a Dutch American called Jules van dongen. You should keep an eye the games and you will pick up on it handy.
That documentary and your reaction was brilliant really enjoyed that
Will either of you be buying a dart board ? 😄
On a completely different sport have you watched the 1985 World Snooker final ? EPIC
these games like you said, and all players started in the pubs, the clubs, which are the heart of the community, and still are to a point, These darts matches, snooker and pool, domino's still go today in the pubs and club with mini leagues,
£4,000 in 1974 is worth £52,244.66 today so it was big money !!
After watching this, you both need to check out the 'Not the Nine O'clock News' sketch about darts.
I come from this back ground, northeast council estate, I feel at home watching this, thanks lads 😂😂😂
I've been playing for my local pub darts team for the last 20 years. I can't stand to watch it on the TV, but enjoy playing it.
your guys, when they came here in 1943 to help with the war effort, loved the pub culture and darts, they played it often, as you said its anyones game for all skill levels,
Have a look for first televised 9 dart finish.
Luke Littler in this year's world championship. 16 years old.
Also take a look at snooker. The Masters has just finished, the top 16 players only. No qualifiers. Ronnie O'Sulivan is the goat, have a look at fastest 147.
Other uniquely British sports include indoor bowls. Its not just old men in slacks, it can get quite intense.
When scoring you want the highest possible so you aim for the treble 20 .. You have to finish with a double or a bullseye, so with the bull you can finish on 50 whereas to finish on a double you have to be on 40 or below ... It makes the 170 finish possible (2 X treble 20's and a bull to finish)
Bullseye is 50 points and is classed as double 25 for finishing
Yeah, can check out 170 known as the "Big Fish" - 60,60, Bull
I used to play darts with my mates in the pub, and with some locals it was very competitive . I was never any good at it , but some others were and took it really seriously , I’ve never really watched it on tv though. But it’s a big part of British culture. And it’s pub related.
But also it like asking a British oerson how they feel about baseball, it’s obviously massive in the US but in the UK it’s just a silly game that made us play at school
I always remember watching the "Not The Nine o clock News" scetch.
bullseye scores 50 points but treble 20 scores 60 so treble 20 will always give you highest score
you get 3 darts each go so you can theoretically score treble 20 three times and score 180, this is the highest possible score with your 3 darts.
to finish a leg you have to end on a double, so if you need 40 you need to get double 20, if you miss and score 20 you only have 20 left so now you need double ten.
the only exception to finishing on a double is that if you need 50 you can finish on a bullseye so if you need 170 with your 3 darts you can hit, treble 20, treble20 then bullseye to win. 170 is the highests checkout you can achieve with 3 darts.
TOTALLY Understandable that Eric Bristow went for a single "18" leaving (for him) an easy one-dart finish of 32( Double 16) but he assumed the young lad would not finish on 138 which involved a Treble 20=60 then a Treble 18=54 leaving 24 (Souble 12) which is EXTREMELY difficult let alone for a young rookie,nervously,throwing for THe World Title and who missed several much easier chances earlier but HE DID IT and Eric never got to throw any more darts in the match.
what's great about darts on TV is the instant WIN/NOT WON YET of the close-up of the double,......and then a dart thunks in, appears out of nowhere and you have instant win/fail. In many sports, the "goal/score" has a build up, you see a ball approaching one end, you see a a shot from far and can tell if it's a possible goal, or just crap, but you don't see the dart coming, and EVERY dart is almost a "goal"
The game is pretty simple. You start off with 501 and have to finish with 0 on a double. The highest score is triple 20, (60), which outguns the bullseye of 50. You can, (and these professional darts players often did), do a 9 dart finish to win the leg. If you miss the double on the last throw and go over the remaining, then you score 0. If it's under, then the score is taken off what remains, with the lowest possible score being 2, which would required a double 1 to finish. The most popular finish is double top, (two 20's.) Missing that and only getting a single, (with darts left), would mean going for double 10 and if you missed that, double 5. The amount of pressure on to finish is really something, especially if it means winning or losing. As a spectator sport, it can be quite engrossing to watch.
The, 'beer gut', and drinking pints during a match was nothing more than a stereotype that was made fun of. They should really have just taken it for what it was. A bit of fun poking. That particular show, (Not The Nine o'clock News), took the rise out of everyone. So, they weren't particularly having a go at darts players, per se. It's the idea of them having a drinking contest, whilst casually playing darts in the background, that was funny. The, 'beer gut', was just a comical addition and wasn't particularly indicative of any particular darts player. Although, there were a few who did possess one, it never got in the way, (figuratively speaking), of their ability to play.