46 Fun Facts About Darts

Which darts referee, nicknamed 'The Voice', refereed his last world final in January 2024?

Russ Bray got his start by accident, volunteering to call a county match when the regular caller failed to turn up.

Darts' highest checkout, 170, must finish with the last dart in which target?

The inner bull is worth 50 and counts as a double for finishing, so no three-dart checkout can top 170.

What is the line that darts players must stand behind to throw called?

The oche must sit 2.37 m from the face of the board, so if a board sticks out from the wall, the oche moves back.

Before bristle boards took over, English pub dartboards were usually solid blocks of which wood?

Elm boards had to be soaked regularly to stay soft, a chore that paper-coil and bristle boards later did away with.

Which England cricketer presented The Indoor League, the 1970s ITV show of pub games including darts?

Fred Trueman fronted every series and signed off each show with the phrase 'I'll see thee'.

Which Lancashire carpenter is traditionally credited with devising the dartboard's numbering in 1896?

Brian Gamlin is said to have placed low numbers beside high ones, such as the 1 next to the 20, to punish inaccuracy, though his role is disputed.

Modern quality dartboards are made from the fibres of which plant?

Sisal fibres packed into the board simply part to let a dart in, then close the hole again when it is pulled out.

In which city did a 1908 court case rule darts a game of skill, so pubs could keep playing it?

In Leeds, darts were thrown in court to prove the game took skill, since games of chance were then banned on licensed premises.

What are the fins at the back of a dart called?

Flights attach to the shaft behind the barrel, and a heavier dart generally needs a larger flight to fly steadily.

Which metal, far denser than brass, is used to make slim dart barrels?

Pure tungsten is brittle, so barrels use a tungsten alloy, and the slimmer darts it allows can group more tightly on the board.

Under standard rules, when a darts player busts, which total is their score set back to?

Its total before that turn is restored, and no score from that turn counts, so any darts left in it are wasted.

Which double do darts players nickname 'the madhouse'?

Double 1 is the only finish for a player left on 2, because hitting a single 1 would leave 1, which busts.

Who threw the first televised nine-dart finish, at the 1984 MFI World Matchplay?

John Lowe won a £102,000 prize for that perfect leg and went on to win the whole event.

Who became the first player from outside Britain to win the BDO world title, in 1994?

John Part, a Canadian, won it as an unseeded player and later added two PDC world titles to make three.

Who was the first player to hit a nine-dart finish at a World Championship, in 1990?

Paul Lim did it in a second-round win, and he was still playing at the World Championship aged 71 in December 2025.

Which debutant beat Phil Taylor in the 2018 world final, Taylor's last World Championship?

Rob Cross, a former electrician nicknamed Voltage, won less than 12 months after his first throw as a professional.

In which seaside town is darts' World Matchplay traditionally held?

In Blackpool in 2002, Phil Taylor hit a live televised nine-darter at the Matchplay and collected a £100,000 bonus.

In which city was 16-time world champion Taylor born?

Stoke-on-Trent-born Phil Taylor was making ceramics for a living until financial backing let him turn professional.

Which player was nicknamed the Crafty Cockney?

Eric Bristow sponsored a young Phil Taylor with £10,000, and in 1990 Taylor beat him in the world final.

The Crafty Cockney took his darts nickname from an English pub in which Californian city?

Santa Monica's pub gave him the name, and his own Crafty Cockney pub back in England is where a young Phil Taylor began practising seriously.

Scottish world champion Jocky Wilson, who won in 1982 and 1989, came from which Fife town?

Kirkcaldy's Jocky Wilson had lost his last tooth by 28, and after his 1982 title he paid £1,200 for dentures.

Who won the first BDO World Championship in 1978?

Leighton Rees lost the title a year later to the very player he had beaten in the 1978 final.

Keith Deller's 1983 world title was notable because he was the first what?

Keith Deller was the first qualifier to win it, clinching the title with a famous 138 checkout in the final.

Where was the BDO World Championship held from 1986 to 2019?

The final BDO Worlds in 2020 was staged at Indigo at the O2 in London.

Who became chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation in 2021?

Eddie Hearn took over as his father Barry stepped aside after almost 40 years to become president of Matchroom.

Where has the PDC World Championship been held since 2008?

Alexandra Palace staged the 2023 final in which Michael Smith hit a nine-dart finish.

The PDC World Championship trophy is named after which commentator?

Sid Waddell, 'the Voice of Darts', had produced The Indoor League, and the trophy took his name after his death in 2012.

Which three events make up darts' Triple Crown?

Phil Taylor won six of the thirteen Premier Leagues he played in.

Who was the first player to win both the BDO and PDC world titles?

Dennis Priestley crushed Phil Taylor 6–1 to win the first PDC world final, in 1994.

Whose world titles are credited with starting the darts boom in the Netherlands?

Raymond van Barneveld became the first Dutch BDO world champion in 1998, and millions of Dutch fans tuned in.

Michael van Gerwen won his first PDC world title in 2014 by beating whom in the final?

Peter Wright lost that 2014 final, but the Scot later won world titles of his own in 2020 and 2022.

Who beat Phil Taylor 7–6 in the 2015 PDC world final?

Gary Anderson won despite one visit in the final where his third dart knocked his two treble 20s out of the board, scoring nothing.

Who beat Littler 7–4 in the 2024 PDC World Championship final?

Humphries came back from 4–2 down to win 7–4, and the victory made him the new world number one.

What is darts star Luke Littler's nickname?

The Nuke was 16 when his run to the 2024 world final inspired a wave of new darts fans and players.

In which Cheshire town was Luke Littler born and raised?

His nickname is 'the Nuke'.

Fallon Sherrock made history in December 2019 as the first woman to do what?

Fallon Sherrock beat Ted Evetts to win a match at the PDC Worlds, then knocked out Mensur Suljović in the next round.

In April 2026 Beau Greaves became the first woman to do what?

Beau Greaves beat former world champion Michael Smith 8–7 in the Players Championship 11 final to win a PDC ranking title.

Which English player, nicknamed 'Golden Girl', won the first BDO women's world title in 2001?

Trina Gulliver kept the title seven years in a row, until Anastasia Dobromyslova beat her in the 2008 final.

Bobby George famously walks on in a cloak, carrying a candelabra, to which song?

'We Are the Champions' plays him on, yet George's two BDO world finals, in 1980 and 1994, both ended in defeat.

Who hosted the ITV darts game show Bullseye for its original 14-year run?

Jim Bowen would console contestants who lost the gamble by showing them what they could have won.

What is the name of Bullseye's animated bull mascot?

The show pulled audiences of up to 20 million at its peak.

Premier League Darts launched in 2005 on which broadcaster?

Sky Sports had backed the breakaway players from the start, screening their first world championship in 1993–94.

Which player ended Phil Taylor's long unbeaten run in Premier League Darts in 2008?

James Wade beat Taylor in the opening match of 2008, but Taylor got his revenge by beating him in that season's final.

Which darts company made the 1990s Quadro 240 board, with its extra quadruple ring?

Harrows' Quadro 240 raised the highest possible three-dart checkout from 170 to 210.

Which traditional regional dartboard has no treble ring at all?

The Yorkshire board was used in the first series of TV's The Indoor League, before the standard trebles board replaced it.

Which venue hosted the PDC World Championship from 1994 to 2007?

The Circus Tavern in Purfleet hosted it for 14 years, until the PDC decided it had to move to keep growing.