Darts

Is darts a sport?

For me, a sport is a game (or other form of competition) in which success depends on some physical activity or skill. So chess, for example – fine game though it is – is not a sport, because it depends entirely on mental skill. Darts, on the other hand, clearly involves a physical skill; so despite the fact that in all fairness not many of even its top–class participants could reasonably be described as athletes, it is definitely a sport.

Scoring, Rules, etc.

Name of the line behind which the thrower must stand		Oche
Horizontal distance from the oche to a point below the face of the board		7 feet 9¼ inches (2.36855 m)
Height from the floor to the centre of the bull		5 feet 8 inches
Name given to the metal web that divides the board into sections		Spider

Points for the bullseye		50
Points for the outer bull		25
Lowest number (positive integer) that you can't score with one dart		23
Lowest number above 2 that you can't score with three scoring darts		163
Lowest number from which you can't finish on a double with three darts		159
Highest number from which you can finish on a double (with three darts)		170
Number of scoring zones on a standard dartboard		82
Minimum number of darts to finish a game of 501 – whether or not you have to end on a double		9
Maximum weight of a dart		50 grams
Maximum length of a dart		12 inches (30 cm)
Madhouse		Double 1
Basement or Bottom of the House		Double 3
Bed and Breakfast (B&B), or Half a Crown: total score of		26
Hitting single, double and treble of the same number, in one turn		Shanghai
Needing 2 (i.e. double 1) to finish		The madhouse

Numbers on the board

The first thing to be said in this section is that it's hardly ever a good idea to set questions about the numbers on a dartboard in a pub quiz. Every pub has a dartboard, and for anyone that can see the board such a question would be a gimme. But even though the pub may have a dartboard, not everyone will necessarily be able to see it; and that gives an advantage to those that can.

In a League scenario, where one team (or one person) gets the question about the dartboard, this will give rise to justifiable outrage on the part of the team that doesn't (if the other team or person can see the dartboard).

Having said all that ... sooner or later, if you do enough quizzes, you are going to get asked about the order that the numbers appear on a dartboard. The trouble is that it's deliberately random; and this is why question setters love this subject.

Actually, it's not completely random. It's designed so that the biggest numbers are flanked by the smallest ones (see below). This is (obviously) so that if you're going for a big number and you miss it, you get a low score.

If you play darts a lot, the sequence probably comes as second nature. Those of us who don't will just have to learn it:

If, like me, you despair of remembering the complete sequence, it may be worth being able to answer the following questions:

Which number is between 7 and 8?		16
Which number is between 2 and 3?		17
Which number is between 1 and 4?		18
Which number is between 3 and 7?		19
Which number is between 5 and 1?		20

Some other points to note:

•	The numbers at the "cardinal" points – equivalent to 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock (highlighted in the list above) – are 20, 6, 3 and 11. Interestingly (!), two of these numbers (6 and 3) are the same as on a clock – but they're the wrong way round! If you can remember this, it might help you to "get your bearings" and keep the other 16 numbers in their respective places
•	In general, single and double digit numbers alternate. There are two pairs of double–digit numbers: 10 and 15, and 11 and 14. (Note that each of these pairs adds up to 25)

If you've got a method for remembering it, please let me know!

Nobody really knows who devised this sequence. It's often said that the originator was one Brian Gamlin, a carpenter from Bury, Lancashire (now in Greater Manchester). The story is that Mr. Gamlin created the sequence in 1896, when he was 44 years old, but died in 1903 having never got round to patenting it.

The only problem with this is that there is no evidence that Brian Gamlin ever even existed. Darts afficionados have tried to find him in censuses and death records, but to no avail. One of them contacted the Bury Times newspaper, which asked readers if any relatives of Brian Gamlin still lived in the area. But no one came forward. Another even searched the records from Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk (in case someone had got their Burys mixed up), but the result was the same.

The story seems to have originated in the Daily Mirror, in a response to a reader's query. This may have been in 1979, or it may have been in 1992 – depending on which source you go by. But given the complete lack of any corroborating evidence, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the Mirror (or one of its readers) simply made the story up. One researcher claims to have written to the Mirror asking to see the archive of the original article, only to be told that it wasn't available.

Most sources agree that the person with the best claim is Thomas William Buckle, a wire–worker from Dewsbury, Yorkshire, who made dominoes and other pub game equipment in his spare time (and served in the First World War, so we know he existed). It was in 1913 that Buckle converted a fives dartboard into what would become known as the Yorkshire board. This has no treble ring, and is black all over, but the numbers were arranged in the order that we are all more or less (I use that phrase advisedly) familiar with today. The board that is now standard, complete with treble ring and the differently–coloured segments, was derived from Buckle's Yorkshire board and is known as the London board.

Fives, by the way, is a version of darts in which the board is divided into twelve segments, numbered 5, 15, 10, 20 and repeating. For details, see darts501.com. (This source has pictures of two boards – London and Ipswich versions – both of which have treble rings and differently coloured segments. I'm guessing that the version that Buckle started with had neither of these, but that these two fives boards were developed later, in parallel with the familiar London dartboard.)

My other sources for the above are too numerous to list, but you can find them all by googling "dart board numbers".

BDO World Championships

Sponsors of the BDO world championship, from its inception in 1978 until the ban on smoking sponsorship in 2003		Embassy
Venue of the first BDO world championship (1978): Heart of the Midlands club,		Nottingham
Stoke–on–Trent night club, venue of the BDO world championships 1979–85		Jollees
Venue of the BDO world championship since 1986, and sponsor since 2004 (Frimley Green, Surrey)		Lakeside Country Club
Welsh winner of the inaugural BDO (Embassy) World Professional Darts Championship (1978); runner–up in 1979		Leighton Rees
Second winner (1979); also won in 1987 and 1993; runner–up five times including 1978		John Lowe
Five times BDO (Embassy) world champion, 1980–6; runner–up five times (most recently 1991); first darts player to be awarded the MBE (1989); died of a heart attack in 2018, aged 60		Eric Bristow
First Scottish winner, and the first since the inaugural tournament who wasn't English (1982 and 1989); died in 2012, two days after his 62nd birthday		Jocky Wilson
Winner 1983, aged 23; youngest winner until Klaasen		Keith Deller
First non–British winner (1994); also won the PDC title in 2003 and 2008 (Canadian)		John Part
Dutch player: 4 times BDO world champion, 1998–2005; the first non–Commonwealth winner; won the PDC title at the first attempt in 2007, beating Phil Taylor in an epic final		Raymond van Barneveld
BDO world champion 2004, and World Masters champion 1999: nicknamed The Viking; died in 2021, aged 59 (after a long history of ill health)		Andy Fordham
Dutch player, became the youngest ever world champion when he won the BDO title in 2006 aged 21 years 90 days		Jelle Klaasen
Winner of the BDO Women's World Championships in its first seven years, 2001–7; also in 2010, 2011 and 2016		Trina Gulliver
BDO World Champion in 2007, 2010 and 2011; England captain from 1993 to 2013; nicknamed Wolfie		Martin Adams
First woman to win a match at the BDO World Championships (2019): beat Ted Evetts in the first round, and Mensur Suljović in the second, before losing to Chris Dobey in the third. Subsequently (according to Wikipedia) nicknamed 'Queen of the Palace' (the event was held at Alexandra Palace)		Fallon Sherrock

PDC World Championships

Venue of the first 14 PDC world championships, 1994–2007 (an entertainment venue and nightclub in Purfleet, Essex)		Circus Tavern
Venue since 2008		Alexandra Palace
Sponsor of the PDC world championships, 1994 and 1998–2002		Skol
Sponsor of the PDC world championships, 2003–		Ladbrokes
Legendary darts commentator, in whose honour the PDC World Championship trophy was named in 2013 following his death the previous year, aged 72, from cancer		Sid Waddell
PDC world champion in 2018, 11 months after turning professional; beat Phil Taylor in the final (Taylor's last professional match)		Rob Cross
First winner of the PDC title (1994 – beating Phil Taylor in the final); also runner–up four times, 1996–2000, and previously BDO champion in 1991		Dennis Priestley
PDC world champion 14 times, 1995–2013, including 11 times out of 12 1995–2006 (all but 2003); appeared in the first 14 finals (runner–up in 1994, 2003 and 2007); also won the BDO title in 1990 and 1992; nicknamed The Power		Phil Taylor
Runner–up to Michael van Gerwen in 2014, and winner in 2020 and 2022: known for his mohawk hairstyle, which changes colour every tournament; nicknamed Snakebite, after his favourite drink		Peter Wright

WDF World Cup (Men's)

First winners of the WDF World Cup, 1977 (also won in 1993 and 1997)		Wales
Winners of the WDF World Cup, 2005, 2007 and 2009		Netherlands
Winners every other year (1979, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91, 95, 99, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2015)		England

Other

First player to make a nine–dart finish in a televised match (MFI World Matchplay, 13 October 1984) – against Keith Deller

The above feat was not televised live. The first–nine dart finish to be televised live was achieved by Shaun Greatbatch against Steve Coote in the Final of the Dutch Open on 3 February 2002. The first nine–darter to be broadcast live on British television was by Phil Taylor during the 2002 World Matchplay, in his quarter final against Chris Mason on 1 August.

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