In the first darts league I played in more than 30 years ago, my team was always competing against a team of English “blokes” who were not only good, they were a lot of fun (as long as you didn’t get in the way of the game). This one guy, Tony, a former star soccer player back home, never played darts until he came to America. Boy, did he learn quickly. Tony went on to compete in big Las Vegas tournaments and his prize money amounted to over $40,000 in one year.
While there are top dart players that earn over $2 million annually, Tony’s brief time “in the show” was enough for him to validate the darts lingo his “mates” were using in our lowly beer league. Here are my favorites:
- Leg - A single game.
- Treble - Hitting the thin inner ring that triples the numbered segment on the dartboard.
- Outs and Setups - Strategizing the best way to win the game by calculating specific scores.
- Mugs away - Loser of the last game (or leg) throws first.
- Tops - Hitting Double 20.
- Wrong bed - Hitting the wrong double 20, or Tops. (My English friends would end this sentence with “you slag!”)
- Madhouse - Hitting Double 1.
- Right church, wrong pew - Hitting the wrong double or triple (or treble).
- Bed & Breakfast - When you score 26 points by hitting a single 1, single 5 and single 20.
- Basement - Hitting a double 3.
- The Devil - A triple 6.
- Annie’s Room - The double 1 area on the board.
- Bucket of Nails - Hitting the 1s with all three darts.
- Bag O’ Nuts - Hitting a score of 45.
- Baby Ton - Hitting a score of 95.
- Champagne Breakfast - Hitting the triple 20, triple 5 and triple 1 in a single throw.
- Bull Out - Winning a game with a double bullseye.
- Big Fish - A checkout of 170.
- Ton Eighty - A score of 180 (three triple 20s).
- Nine-Darter - A perfect game (or leg) where a player wins with nine darts.
Dart players like to discuss the ideal grip, like the location of your fingers on the barrel and the amount of pressure applied. They will study arm position, angle of the throw, follow-through and consistency. They like to emphasize a consistent rhythm in your shot. And they love to talk about adjusting their strategy to beat specific opponents or game situations.
For any of you Ted Lasso fans, it is acceptable to say “barbecue sauce” when you hit the game winning bull, as long as you can hit the bull!
Blog Provided by Don Browne - Wordsmith Extraordinaire - Game Room Enthusiast
