PLACENTIA : Sports Bar Buyer Got the Point

When Denny Cranford bought the Sports Page Bar in Placentia two years ago, his customers told him that he would have to learn to play darts if he wanted the tavern to be successful.

Cranford obliged, and the game quickly became an obsession. He installed three electronic, soft-tip dart games in the bar and put together a team of four dart players to represent Sports Page in tournaments around the country.

Last month the team, playing 158 games in three days, won first place in the Las Vegas Open National Dart Tournament.

Cranford pays the entry fees and travel expenses for Fred Aguerro, Craig Belardes, Larry Markin and Mark Evans to enter about 25 tournaments a year. Evidence of their success is on display at the bar in the form of giant trophies, and team members give frequent clinics there, as well as practice.

Darts has long been a popular bar game, but the development 10 years ago of a computerized dart board has contributed to the game’s rapid rise in popularity.

A game of soft-tip darts is played on a machine that looks similar to a video game. The traditional board is replaced by a plastic target, and a lighter, flexible-tip dart is used in place of the heavy, steel-tip dart.

Probably the greatest difference in the two games is the ease in learning how to play. Steel-tip dart players keep score manually and must master not only throwing techniques but scoring for the dozen or so versions of the game.

“For someone who has never played before, they can walk up to (a steel-tip dart board) and start throwing, but unless someone is there to explain scoring, they don’t know how to play,” said Phil Scarborough, a distributor of the electronic game.

“This machine not only keeps score, it tells you how to play. It won’t let you make a mistake.”

Each game requires a different kind of skill. Steel-tip darts are heavier and require more muscle. Because soft-tip darts are so light, players must exert more control. But more, a game of soft-tip darts is less intimidating than a tradition-steeped game of steel-tip darts, players say.

Team member Belardes, 30, who grew up playing darts and still plays in steel-tip darts tournaments, said the atmosphere in those is more intense.

“The same top players win most (steel-tip darts) tournaments,” Belardes said. “With (plastic tips), everybody has a chance.”

Fellow team member Evans, 36, became so excited about soft-tip darts that he bought his own machine three years ago. A painting contractor in Placentia, Evans said he gave up his other hobbies--basketball and surfing--to concentrate on darts.

Since he began playing five years ago, Evans said he has noticed an increase in the number of players, both at tournaments and in bar leagues. He attributes the increase in part to the machines, with their sound effects, flashing lights and computerized scoring.

But soft-tip darts is more than just a video game, said team member Markin of Fullerton.

The 37-year-old gas company crew leader said he practices at least an hour a day, and has spent much time analyzing the way he throws a dart.

“I have spent hours throwing, writing down what happens when I do this, what happens when I hold the dart this way,” Markin said. “I videotaped myself throwing, then studied the tape.”

Sports Page’s three dart games are its biggest attraction, Cranford said, and are more popular than pool.

“The younger kids, the ones who are 21 and just starting to come to bars, are picking it up like crazy,” Cranford said. “It gives them something to do and keeps them away from just drinking.”