Anyone going to the darts tournament (Aug 15-16)?

[aster]

The Singapore Darts Masters is taking place next month over the space of two days - anyone thinking of giving it a go?

The only tickets worth getting are table ones that include food and free-flow beer. Prices are a bit steep and start at $180/person, plus 8 persons are needed to book a table. But if there are 8 of us here willing to go then I'd be up for it.

[JR8]

I'd enjoy a night of beer and darts down at a pub, but not at some ''''festival'''.

'''Festivals''' seem to be purely money-making ventures here.

[aster]

I'd enjoy a night of beer and darts down at a pub, but not at some ''''festival'''.

'''Festivals''' seem to be purely money-making ventures here.

Very true, plus there is no guarantee that the atmosphere will be anything close to a darts tournament in the UK. But as I've never been to one anyway I'd be willing to give it a try. It sure as heck beats going to the F1 race and seeing just a fraction of the track.

[JR8]

I haven't been to a darts tournament before, but I've watched quite a few as a child/youth on TV. The scene would usually be inside an under-lit 'working mans club' up in the industrial north of England. The stereotyped player might be called Eric 'Jocky' Smith, an ex coal-miner (retired early on disability benefits), 35 but looks 55. Pint glass in one hand, fag hanging out his mouth spilling ash on the 7 gold necklaces that are revealed by his shirt that's unbuttoned low enough to accentuate his sizeable beer gut.

... and yet from this rather uninspiring scene these players will repeatedly be throwing '180s' (3 darts into the Triple20, a 1cmx2.5cm box, from a distance of 2.4m), or indeed, put a dart* into any desired spot on the board. That is what makes it quite so thrilling to watch. The precision required and often displayed keeps you right on the edge of your seat.

So it was quite a popular sport when I was growing up. You'd fix up a board on the back of a door somewhere, and away you went. You'd also find a dartboard in just about every pub. Less so these days as a dart ricocheting off a wire on the board, can easily lodge in anyone nearby, sometimes in their head if they're sitting at a table! So it requires quite a lot of clear space, and space = $$$.

I was going to suggest a representative Youtube clip, but the www seems down right now...

p.s. Yes F1 is a curious thing. A global sport owned by one man (unsurprisingly a very rich one). I went to one F1 grand-prix as a child, at the Silverstone circuit, UK; and it was a heck of a day out, I even got James Hunt's autograph which was way-cool back then The circuit was around a bowl/valley and up around a hillside at either end. so if you were in a decent spot the views were very good, you could see maybe 80% of the entire circuit.

Now, to me, it seems to have lost the glamour that it had. Putting F1 into SG is about increasing the franchise. F1 (that's Bernie Ecclestone) makes more money, SG draws in more tourist $. If making money is the aim of the game they both win. The spectators? Oh, they're $'s to be harvested. I watched the first one here on TV, and it was about as engaging as watching paint dry. Street racing, with no view/edit of more than say five seconds. Maybe of interest to people with Attention Deficit Disorder and lots of money to burn/give to Bernie?

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* In London you'll sometimes hear them called 'arrows' (pronounced 'arrers'. Example: 'ere Kev, fancy a pint and game of arrers after we knock-off?'