COVER STORY : A Point of Contention : Electronic dartboards raise the ire of game-playing traditionalists.

Controversy over darts?

Pub players have tossed their pointed projectiles at pie-shaped targets in the time-honored way since the game originated in 15th-Century England. The Pilgrims are said to have brought the game to America aboard the Mayflower.

So, what in the name of Myles Standish is that. . . . that thing standing in a smoky corner of The Rock, a Canoga Park tavern owned by Philip McGovern--an Englishman, for heaven’s sake? It looks like a dartboard. It plays like a dartboard. By George, it is a dartboard. Only this one has hundreds of tiny holes to catch plastic soft-tip darts. Scores are recorded electronically in a computerized game punctuated by whistles and bells. What’s more, competitors must deposit 50 cents to play.

Call it darts on Astroturf. Purists call it blasphemy.

“Some people are against it, and I quite agree that it’s pathetic,” said McGovern, who has nine dart machines in The Rock and two other San Fernando Valley-area bars. “But I love it because I make money on the machines. They’re becoming very popular.”

Too popular, some say. In fact, the soft-tip game is at the bull’s-eye in a pointed dispute that has polarized the pubs. Modernists raise their glasses to the user-friendly, yuppie version of darts. Traditionalists mutter in their schooners that arcade gimmickry is making a mockery of their sacred game of throwing skill.

“I thought they were a joke right to begin with,” said Brian Caldwell, a native of England and manager of Scotland Yard, a British Pub in Canoga Park that caters exclusively to old-fashioned, steel-tip players. “We’ve got the real darts here.”

The feeling is mutual at the The Royal Oak in North Hollywood, another steel-tip stronghold where plastic is pooh-poohed.

“Plastic is OK, I guess, for people who don’t have any ambition,” said Eddie Harmston, a regular at The Royal Oak. “There’s no brain work involved in plastic. You don’t even have to be able to count to 10. To me, plastic is like a toy.”

Novelty or not, the soft-tip game has steadily gained popularity in the Valley area since one of the machines first appeared in a Van Nuys bar in 1984. In fact, soft-tip players today outnumber their steel-tip counterparts nearly 3 to 1 among those participating in local leagues.

Dozens of bars sponsoring soft-tip play entice competitors with prize money. Pub owners are encouraged by soft-tip promoters offering to organize leagues and share revenue deposited into machines they provide. Avid soft-tip players drop as much as $25 a week into the machines.

But the big draw is simplicity. Soft-tip players don’t have to understand arcane variations of dart games or complicated rules. The machine is programmed for several games that players select at the press of a button. Not only does the computer register scores, it instructs players when and where to throw their next dart.

All they have to do is aim and throw.

“Everything else is going computers these days. Darts might as well, too,” said George Richardson, who competes in soft-tip leagues at The Rock and at other bars. “That’s what I like about it.”

It’s also what critics hate. For purists who prefer to play with dartboards made of compressed sisal, a sturdy fiber obtained from the agave plant, the very notion of not keeping one’s own score is ludicrous. Keeping score and knowing how to proceed in a game are a player’s responsibilities, they say. Also, soft-tip play eliminates “chalking,” the traditional task of tallying scores that idle players perform.

Steel-tip enthusiasts also are turned off by lightweight plastic darts, which do not exceed 16 grams. teel-tip darts can weigh as much as 50 grams, although most players choose darts that weigh between 21 and 25 grams.

“Soft-tip is for a different type of dart shooter,” said Patrick Mulcahy, manager of The Royal Oak. “It’s like comparing golf to pitch-and-putt. We used to have (a machine) in here, but it just gathered dust. We had a league, and it just died away.”

Extinction might come sooner for the steel-tip game. In some bars where the two games coexist, steel-tip darts have become relics. And some soft-tip proponents boldly predict that in 10 years, steel-tip play will be dead as a dodo bird.

“I’ve been saying it’s a dinosaur,” said Larry Hill, who leases 190 machines to more than 100 venues out of his Van Nuys store, Darts and Things. Hill is tournament director of the California Soft-Tip Dart Assn., which runs 35 leagues involving more than 1,000 players.

“One clique of people will continue to play steel-tip,” Hill said. “But they’ll be playing the same people over and over during the next 20 years.”

Die-hard steel-tip players concede that their following is declining. Membership in the Southern California Dart Assn., a governing body of the steel-tip game, stands at about 800 compared to about 3,200 in 1984. About 75% of association members compete in leagues affiliated with 16 Valley bars or lodges, says Mel Katz, the association’s president.

Katz blames the presence of soft-tip machines for contributing to the decline in steel-tip participation--not only in leagues but among those who play just for fun.

“It’s always been you could walk in off the street, pick up a set of darts from the bartender and play for free,” Katz said. “The individuals who have made the machines and the individuals who supply the machines are the ones who are making the money, and it’s turned out to be big business.”

Players’ preferences aside, economics indeed plays a role in the dart debate. About 1,000 Valley-area soft-tip players compete for prize money in leagues sponsored by Medalist Marketing, a Seattle-based company that manufactures soft-tip machines and sanctions regional and national competition.

Steel-tip leagues, which the dart association charges players $28 to join, offer no prize money.

Medalist players pay league registration fees of between $10 and $20 for a typical 14-week season. Those successful in league play are invited to compete in a biannual regional tournament in Burbank that attracts hundreds of players. Tournament entrants can win as much as $500 apiece, depending on how far their team advances.

More money can be won at an annual national tournament in Reno, Nev., that attracts about 2,500 Medalist players and boasts a total purse in excess of $175,000. Players reaching the pinnacle of competition can win as much as $2,000.

The majority of soft-tip players, however, wind up playing for fun. But the incentive to win money is an attraction, says Jerry Indik, who operates a Medalist League and his own soft-tip leagues out of his Golden State Darts and Games store in Chatsworth.

“That’s why soft-tip play has become so much more competitive,” Indik said. “The best players in the United States today are playing soft-tip.”

Indik’s attitude might be indicative of things to come. A former steel-tipped competitor once ranked fourth in the nation by the United States Darting Assn., Indik today embraces the plastic game as the future of darts.

“Once people play soft-tip, they don’t want to play steel-tip,” Indik said. “Soft-tip players don’t hold a grudge against steel-tip players. It’s just the reversal. It’s that English influence that pooh-poohs the whole idea of soft-tip.”

Katz of the dart association insists his brethren harbor no grudges but share a passion for a game they fear might be fading away. For decades, steel-tip players have played only for pleasure and plaques. Those who simply wish to play for fun have played for free.

That’s the way darts should be, Katz says. And that’s the way darts should stay.

“They’re not promoting the game of darts, they’re promoting a game for profit,” Katz said of his soft-tip counterparts. “I have nothing against people who want to play soft-tip. Just take a lot of quarters with you.”

Where to Go

What: Information on joining soft-tip dart leagues.

Location: Darts and Things, 16217 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys, (818) 989-0835; Golden State Darts and Games, 8832 Shirley Ave., Northridge, (818) 341-3278; Medalist Marketing, Seattle, Wash., (800) 532-4837.

What: Information on joining steel-tip dart leagues.

Call: Southern California Dart Assn., (310) 391-2069.