So who's up for a little darts trivia?  My son-in-law bought me a book with lots of different darts facts and figures.  It's funny how much I DIDN'T know about the game of darts after reading some of this book.

• We've all heard of people playing darts for money or a beer, but this tale's got a different twist. It's a known fact that singers Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck are old friends and like to play darts. When on tour they've been known to appear at various pubs all over the world looking for a game. During the 1970s, they purchased a 3,000-acre ranch and settled for the fishing rights by playing a game of darts. Just for the record, Jones won.
• 1901 was the first recorded reference to the game that we know.
• Legend has it that the Pilgrim Fathers played a form of darts, and Edmond Carl Hady of Pennsylvania states that they played 'butts' - throwing short arrows into the butt of a wine cask.
• In 1896 Brian Gamlin from Lancashire designed the current numbering system.
• John Reader of Sussex recorded the first 180 in 1902.
• Oche is an old French verb meaning to notch or nick and is dated well before the advent of darts.
• In 1908 in Portsmouth, three beer crates from S. Hockey & Sons were put end to end (9 feet) to mark the throwing line hence 'Toe the Hockey'. In 1911 Petrie Brewers took over Hockeys, and new crates of 2 feet were introduces. Four of these gave a throw of 8 feet.
• In 1898 an American patented a folded paper flight.
• In 1906 a Yorkshireman patented an all metal barrel.

Until Next Time!
Tony