By kind permission of Richard Ballam. This author hasn't seen anything convincing to show that Puff and Dart existed before Although there could well be some evidence waiting to be found, it is not mentioned by Joseph Strutt in so is unlikely to have been a well-known game at that point and none of the many decrees banning games in prior centuries make any mention of it either.
Although some authors have suggested that Puff and Dart evolved into the throwing form of the game, there doesn't appear to be any evidence for such an assertion - instead it seems that the throwing version of the game just gradually replaced Puff and Dart which disappeared in the first 2 or 3 decades of the twentieth century. Perhaps analogous to the manner in which Homo Sapiens slowly pushed the Neanderthals into extinction. It is said that in , during a game of Puff and Dart at a London pub, a player made the unfortunate mistake of sucking rather than blowing.
The dart disappeared into his digestive system whereupon the poor chap died a few days later. On this basis, it may not be too surprising that the game did not make it to modern times In Patrick's Chaplin's excellent book 'Darts in England - ', he concludes with good evidence that the English game of Darts originated at the Fairground.
Darts is not unique in this as other pub sports such as Aunt Sally and Skittles also have a firm historical link with Olde English Fayres. It seems that, in typical fairground style, the fairground dartboard was divided up into numbered segments in such a way as to make it appear much more easy than it actually was to win a prize. So it is likely that the initial idea for segmentation of the board appeared when Fairground darts appeared - mid 19th century.
However, the really horrifying conclusion of Chaplin's studies are that the origin of the thoroughly English game of Darts is French! Yes, the darts used at the newfangled fairground attraction of Dart throwing were all imported from the Jura region of France where the game had been made and played in a somewhat different form for some time. French darts are wooden and rather larger than a modern dart. For nigh on 60 years, the darts industry in the Northern part of France grew as the sport blossomed in England until, according to Chaplin, by , 10 million darts per year were being produced for the English market Arthur Taylor, the venerable writer on Pub Games has discovered that French Darts is still being played in France in at least two forms.
And 'Flechettes' meaning 'small arrow' in which rather smaller darts are thrown at a target with concentric rings. In the same way that the pub game of 'Puff and Dart' was adapted as a parlour game in the late 19th century, the highly competitive parlour games industry also adapted a throwing version of the game which was initially known as 'Dart and Target'; one proprietary version by John Jaques was called "Dartelle".
Best guess for date of appearance of this is late s. A book of the time gives instructions for making this game at home - "The dart is a straight piece of stick, about six inches long, with a pin stuck in at one end, and a paper guide at the other". The relevance of this to the history of the game of darts may be no more than a red herring. Such was the popularity that the game of darts enjoyed during the first decades of the twentieth century that by the game was played all over England and in Welsh pubs and breweries.
All you needed was some darts and a good dart cabinet and you were set. The first organized championships had begun in the s. The establishment of the National Darts Association took place in By the year , almost three hundred thousand participants signed up for the yearly News of the World Championship. The Second World War saw darts achieve an even higher degree of popularity as it was taken up by the troops as a pastime almost emulating the origins of the sport hundreds of years before.
It was during WWII that American soldiers became enamored with the game of darts and began to adopt and disseminate the game in their home country. Between the decades of the s and the s, the game saw significant levels of participation in organized play across the country. The National Darts Association of Great Britain, which was founded in , took up the task of setting up and organizing leagues at the local and national levels. Although the game of darts first appeared on television in , it did so to an extremely limited audience; but in the year , the News of the World Individual Darts Championship was broadcast by the Independent Television Authority to a great reception.
By the time the 80s rolled around the world of darts had superstars enjoying celebrated fame and instant recognition on the streets. Names like Lees, Wilson, and Lazarenko became the topic of dinner conversation. The first significant organizational split of the sport occurred in when the British Darts Organization parted with several high profile players who were unhappy with the way the national championships were being run.
This split resulted in the foundation of the World Darts Council or the Professional Darts Corporation as it is known today. Both of these organizational bodies have done tremendous work in an attempt to integrate the game of darts into a functional sport.
High caliber competitions are being played yearly, including a World Championship. Find out what darts the pros use! The British Darts Organization boasts 70 member countries and millions of people are playing darts every day; there is even talk of giving the sport Olympic status.
Without a doubt, the game of darts has come a very long way from its humble medieval beginnings. For this reason, many might consider it a fairly new game.
However, darts goes way back. It is believed that this game was actually invented somewhere in the middle ages. From the evidence we nowadays have, we know for sure that darts is among the oldest established English pub games. To help you gain a broader understanding of how darts has evolved, here is a short history of darts. According to some opinions, darts was invented by the soldiers of King Arthur who used to have fun aiming to hit a target with their arrows to make time pass by.
While we are not able to tell whether this is fact or fiction, one thing is for sure, the earliest type of dartboards resembled the concentric targets used in archery. Moreover, it is believed that archery teachers used shorter arrows to help their students learn easier and the targets were made of old wine barrels.
If we think about it historically, darts evolved a lot during the past centuries. Even noblemen appreciated the game. Darts made the leap from archery lessons to the pub with the help of soldiers when they no longer limited their archery practice to a formal setting and decided to throw those arrows while drinking a pint of beer at the pub to have fun with their friends.
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