Action Is Quick and to the Point In This Sport

The terms are familiar--men’s singles, mixed doubles, women’s singles--but don’t look for tennis whites here.

The fans of the 200 amateur and professional dart players who are in town this weekend for the Lucky Filters New Orleans Open follow their sport in the working class bars of the city where “doubling out” and “hitting trips” are the means to success.

“Darts have really caught on here,” said John Miles, president of the Greater New Orleans Darts Association. “We started out eight years ago with four teams in the city. Now, I’d say more than 5,000 people shoot darts with a team. We have two leagues that play year round.”

Tough economic times in New Orleans have made darts a popular sport, Miles said. All you need is a set of darts, which cost from $15 to $125. The local bar usually supplies the board, which costs about $40.

Nationally, 12.1 million people play darts, said Jay Tomlinson, president of the American Darts Organization.

“It’s one of the few sports in the United States where a local or amateur can have a chance to play with or against one of the top players in the country,” Tomlinson said. “You can’t do that in golf. I’d love to play with Jack Nicklaus but the costs of a pro-am tournament are too much for most of us. In darts you could compete against one of the top pros or team up with one for between $10 and $20.”

There are about 40 to 50 professional darts players in the nation, Tomlinson said, 15 to 20 of whom make a living off the sport.

Top pros make between $40,000 and $50,000 a year, he said, adding that 26 tournaments in the United States offer $20,000 or more in prize money.

Professional darts players must be able to do more than hit the bull’s-eye, Tomlinson said.

The board is laid out in concentric circles with one half-inch wide ring toward the center worth triple the point value and a similar ring on the perimeter worth double value.

Victory in some games requires a precise hit in the double ring for a specific number of points. That’s known as “doubling out.”

Top prize in the New Orleans tournament is $20,000. Miles said anyone can win.

“Darts tournaments are one place an amateur can beat a pro,” he said. “It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. In this sport men and women can compete against each other. Kids can compete with adults. The great thing about it is that the person who can concentrate and gets a hot hand is the winner.”