Not a lot of sports have a history as long as darts! Darts, through its various forms is believed to have been around for hundreds of years (without the use of a dart board) however it wasn’t until the First World War that darts began to take off in popularity.

The modern form of darts (at least with the modern style of dart equipment) began in the 1950’s/1960’s and while beginning as a game popular in pubs and clubs has grown exponentially to become the popular world sport it is today.

Darts is a fun game that can be played with friends or family and has many games to keep you entertained, whether it practicing darts on your own, through to challenging your friends to a game of baseball, darts has many different offerings for all different levels of experience. There are multiple types of games that can be played in darts, either casually or competitively. The versatility ranges from the cricket in darts to the 01 games, which include 301 and 501. The game might not be that engaging but what engages are the rules and the people you play with. Darts is a fun sport that is engaging, lively and a way to promote healthy competition with your friends or colleagues.

Many English households have a dartboard at home, which shows how popular the game of darts is in the UK. Worldwide, audiences for the popular darts tournaments (at least pre COVID) have been growing every year. The number of players is every increasing and darts is becoming more popular in other areas such as North America and Asia. The most popular dart games include the 01 darts games, Cricket (English and US), Baseball, Around the Clock, Chase the Dragon, Hare and Hounds, Halve-it, Shanghai and 51 by 5’s.

Darts’ Origin

Darts originated in England in medieval times in the first few decades of the fourteenth century. Some believe that darts originated in England during the medieval period in the 1300s, while others say that it suddenly became popular after it was played as a military pastime. People have gained interest in the game over time and continue to play it to this date.

Darts may originate from anywhere; it’s about where the game is most popular, and it’s very uncertain as everybody likes to have a dart game if they are visiting their friends or family. Darts can be played casually or competitively. Everyone tends to like it even after trying it once. The game usually attracts anyone who wants to have a game that requires involvement with others.

History of Darts

The game is about 700 years old, though it has been played in different forms for a long period of time. Many people have their own versions of the story that lead back to the time it started, but not everyone believes everything someone says.

The soldiers used to play this game when they were bored and during battles, whenever they had nothing else to do. Their commanders also encouraged them in this game because this would eventually improve their aim. They used to use sharp objects like spearheads and similar pointed objects to throw at the bottoms of casks that were used to store liquor at that time.

Although this game spread as a pastime among various ranks in the military, soldiers started competing with each other to prove their worth or superiority in skills. They upgraded from the cask bottoms of liquor to cross-sectioned tree trunks as their targets. As the game became even more popular, it asked for further rules to be added in order to make it even better and to test the skills, furthermore, of those who were thinking of themselves as champions of the game.

Who Invented Darts?

Although modern darts were invented by a carpenter from Lancashire named Brian Gamlin in 1896, darts were played long before. It was played as a pastime by military personnel during the medieval era in the first few decades of the fourteenth century, as mentioned in the beginning. Darts have seen everything from being played in the middle of a trench to being played in the pubs of the most crowded cities. The inventor of darts is not certain, but because the game was played irrespective of any organized manner, we can say that Brian Gamlin took much of credit for the same as he was the one that introduced the scoring system.

Darts’ Background

The game of darts has come a long way from being played in the royal courts to being played in every other pub on the block. Its popularity rose through the ceiling so quickly that even the royal families started playing it. A famous story proves it, which states that King Henry VIII enthusiastically played with an exclusively decorated set of darts gifted to him by his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Seeing a king play darts, who were not eventually interested in it, also started playing. The other nobles took inspiration from the king, and they began to play and liked it very much. Had nobody liked the game, it would have never been this popular.

What attracts everyone to the game is that it’s very easy to play. Not the size, strength, shape matters in the game, so anyone of any age group can join a game of darts. This makes it even catchier. The 19th century saw great dissemination of the various types of this game, and the fun fact is that it was still not organized enough.

Various rules were used according to the people playing it, which differed from place to place. Playing it without a set of particulars still got it so much fame. The heights of popularity asked for some organized play, and thus, in the 1800s, the first numbering or scoring systems were developed and brought into the picture. Many people claim to have brought up the numbering system to the game, but almost everyone believes that it was Brian Gamlin who actually did it.

Darts become a popular past time in the 1950’s through to the 1970’s however the end of 1980’s was a dark time for darts which led to the great split in darts, After the lower television ratings and prizemoney the top 16 professionals of the days split from the games governing body (the British Darts Organisation or BDO) in 1993 and set up their own rival organisation, the World Darts Council (WDC) (now known as the Professional Darts Corporation or PDC). The BDO then banned these blacklisted players from their tournaments.

After a protracted legal battle between both sides, the Tomlin order was created where the BDO recognised the WDC (and the rights of the players to play in the WDC) and the WDC accepted that the World Darts Federation was the world governing darts body and that the BDO was the governing body of darts in the UK. The WDC then renamed themselves the PDC.

Eventually the PDC became the strongest and most popular organisation in darts with the higher prize money tournaments and the better players. The BDO and the PDC continued running their separate organisations (with separate world championships) until 2020 when the BDO was taken over by the World Darts Federation (WDF) who will run all the BDO events.

Now with the PDC we have record prize money, massive television exposure and a truly international sport. Darts is in a good place and will only get bigger and better.