Silver Bullet Action – High Scores Update
This weekend is the finals of the annual dart tournament at the Silver Bullet in Neskopeck. This year is the 16th running of the event. Of course this being the finals, all the teams shooting will have had to qualify during the weekend events that took place between March 15th and 30th.
Also coming up at the Silver Bullet is the Matt Sarna Benefit, which is a one day event that is designed to raise funds to help a 5 year-old who is battling bone cancer. It is a two-man, handicap tournament that takes place Sunday April 13th. Registration closes at 11am. For more information you can contact Ralphie at 759-0929.
Also, a round of congratulations goes to “goNoPlace”, the virtual dart shooter. He has managed to land a place on the “70+” section of the High Shooters List for our online darts game by throwing a 72!
Classic American Dart Cabinets
There is more than usual to report in the world of American Style darting. First off, the big dart tournament of the year, the PA State Dart tournament finished, with Haganey’s Aces #2 taking the title!
I’ve updated the PA State Dart Tournament page, so you can go visit and see who was involved and how everyone else who made it to the Finals fared.
The other big tournament of the year – Nationals – also concluded. The National dart tournament has a set of different classes that shooters are grouped into according to their averages. There are A, B, and C divisions for teams, and this year there was a Singles tournament that had 4 divisions. I’ve updated the National American Dart Tournament page to show the winners of these events.
Now, onto something that I’ve been getting a lot of emails about recently . . . those Green Dart Cabinets that hold an American dart board. We’ve all seen them in bars everywhere, and depeding on your age, they have the ability to bring back some memories.
They are a pretty unique item. No one shows up to work every Monday and starts making these cabinets. Instead, they are created during one of what I think are two production runs throughout the year. So basically, they clear the workbenches and say “We’re going to make cabinets today fellas”, and then that’s what they do.
And when they’re done, those are the cabinets that will be sold for the next few months. When they sell out, there are no more until the next production run.
Here’s the big news . . .
They are doing a production run at the start of April, so now is the time to speak up if you’re interested in owning one of these pieces!!!
They come in the traditional Green, and the “modern” Oak color. The cost is $149 + shipping (they ship out of Philadelphia, and so far the charges have been coming in at $25).
If you’re interested in one, we’ll be taking orders that will be fulfilled during this next production run, so we have until probably the first week of April to get them submitted. You can order from the Classic American Dart Cabinet page (near the bottom), or by emailing me at “webmaster AT americanstyledarts.com”.
PA State Dart Finals Tomorrow
i just got the email from George, and in case anyone was worried that the weather would put a hold on tomorrow’s (Sautrday Feb 23rd) dart efforts, fear no more. or at least less. things are completely on schedule as of 4:30pm today.
here’s the line-up for tomorrow . . .
Loser’s Bracket (or more eloquently, Teams with a 3-1 record) 10AM Start
Dorko’s Café #1, #3 & #4, Mt. Carmel, PA (3 Teams)
Valley View Gun Club, Sacramento, PA
Fat Heads, Somers Point, NJ
Team Rohfling, Jim Thorpe, PA
White Haven Fire Co., White Haven, PA
Julie’s Café, Tower City, PA
Savitsky’s #2, Nanticoke, PA
Joliett Fire Co., Joliett, PA
M.M.M., Freeland, PA
VIP Darts #2 & #3, Jim Thorpe, PA (2 Teams)
Miller’s Bar, Drums, PA
Jeff’s, Bethlehem, PA
E&B Construction, Hazleton, PA
Jake’s Place, Hamburg, PA
Dirty Dogs, Burlington, PA
The Rummies, Coaldale, PA
Undefeated Bracket – Noon Start
Johnson’s Village Inn, Nuremburg, PA
Savitsky’s Edge, Nanticoke, PA
Raven’s Nest, Quakertown, PA
Haganey’s Aces #2, Freeland, PA
Misty Eyes, Schuylkill Haven, PA
Wall of Fame Induction
Lenny Kislavage
Al Rasmus
Jim Watkins
Jessie Richie
Walt Figas
the Wall of Fame induction Ceremony begins at 10AM.
Widdy-Apex-Darto Sampler Packs
Phil Taylor’s tip about experimenting to find the right dart equipment for you struck a chord. How is the average darter going to try out Darto darts, Widdy’s and Apex darts to see which one fits him best?
You can buy a dozen of each type of dart, but that’s just shouldn’t be the best solution available! A better way would to buy a box of a dozen darts that contained a few Apex, and few Widdys and a few Dartos.
Now, you can. We’ve put together a dart “sampler pack”.
It includes Four Widdy’s, Four Apex darts, and Four Dartos. So, you can test out each manufacturer, and decide which one is best for you. And if a dart gets burred during testing, that’s ok, you’ll have a backup in the box. (Considering we only throw three darts at an inning, but there are four darts from each maker in the box).
I know, there are only three of each in the picture, but you’ll get four of each when you order.
They are available through our Dart Catalog Page.
I think this is also a great solution for home dart setups, bars and taverns who have demand for different style darts, gifts for darters when you’re not sure which brand to buy, and people just setting up a dartboard for the first time.
Dart Throwing Tips
stumbling through youtube today, i came across a video from “the Mirror” in the UK. it was Phil “The Power” Taylor’s Top 5 Tips to Darts Success. and i thought, hey, that’s pretty cool. considering he’s probably the best dart player on the face of the planet.
turns out a bit of it is tongue in cheek. and, even though the announcer speaks English, his accent is so thick i did a lot of rewinding to figure out what he was saying during the first 30 seconds. Phil on the other hand, speaks clearly enough for my ears.
anyway, here’s the video . . .
1. Always Have the Right Gear – which makes sense, especially for English darters where every part of the dart seems to be customisable. the flights, the weights, the barrel shapes, and on and on.
on the American side, the choices are really limited to whether you want to use Widdy’s, Darto’s, or Apex darts. Phil says that it’s all “experimental really”, so experiment with the different darts that are available, and find the one that suits you!
and “equipment” doesn’t end with the dart itself, it also extends to the clothes you wear. i know that some players simply won’t wear sleeved shirts. they cut the sleeves off completely. other won’t wear long sleeves. it doesn’t matter what you prefer, but it might be worth paying attention to for a moment to see if your choice of shirts for the evening has a little something to do with your dart game.
Phil mentions shoes as well. i suppose anything you could wear that might make you more comfortable and stable at the line is worth thinking about.
2. Play the Name Game – ok, this made me chuckle. but, english darts is not the team game that american darts are. i see this in the bar pretty often when a newcomer wants to join in the dart games and someone says, “get team, we’ll shoot” and he looks at them like “what the hell are you talking about, a team?”.
heh, looking through our scoresheets though, it does seem like a lot of shooters have a nickname: Cookie, Biggie, Mutzy, Z, Zig, Trout, Muff, Mall, Zippy, Fatty, Pizza, and the list goes on.
3. Take a Stand – as in “how to stand at the oche” (rhymes with “hockey”).
- put your foot sideways
- lean in
- aim your dart “a little bit like aiming a gun” (he seems to be shy saying that, which makes me chuckle as well. i suppose he’s not from hunting country 
)
- pull back and fire
he doesn’t say much about a “follow through”
4. How to Throw – couldn’t make out all the words, but he says he gets his thoughts directly in line with whatever he’s aiming at. imagine there’s a plum(?) line that comes right across the floor. that’s where he stands, and keep everything level.
5. Feel the Pressure – he says it’s “not easy”.
Well – for better or worse, those are the words from the man himself!
But Wait – There’s More!!
One of the members of the darts forums we’ve set up asked for some tips for throwing American Darts, and he received some of the best dart throwing advice I’ve seen online so be sure to read over RJB’s Tips for Throwing Darts!!
Nationals Prequalifier Results – Online High Score
last week there was a prequalifying event for Nationals held in Emmaus. Games were shot in both the “B” division (which has a 3-man cap of 110 pts) and the “C” division (which has a cap of 90pts per 3-man team).
Winners emerging from the “B” division include 2 teams from Dorko’s Cafe:
1st – Dorko’s II (Dennis Conti, Young Joe Zavarik, Nate Dobek)
2nd – Emmaus Fire Co. #1
3rd – BVFHA
4th – Dorko’s I (Corey Hepler, Doug Troutman, Damien Zigler)
in the “C” division, the following teams are moving on to seeded position in Nationals:
1st – Pine Grove VFW
2nd – Fountain Hill Hose Company
3rd – Emaus Fire Company #3
4th – Coopersburg Fire Company
there are several other pre-qualifiers for Nationals coming up, including Saturday February 2nd in Northhampton PA.
ONLINE DARTS GAME
i received a screenshot from Clyde Myers who tied the best score ever by shooting a 78!!! Congratulations go out to Clyde!
New High Scores – Functional Scoresheets
Those are the two new additions to American Style Darts.com. If you visit the Score Sheets page, you’ll notice two new Excel files added towards the bottom. Those are “automated” scoresheets where scorekeepers only have to enter the value of the last dart shooter’s inning score. All of the addition will be taken care of by the computer.
While taking a laptop into a smokey barroom is a less practical way to keep score than say, the trusty old pencil and paper routine, this is a project that just begged for some attention. And so, it’s now available thanks to Frank Petruskevich. Who knows, building on something like this, twenty years from now our kids could be inputting dart scores on their cell phones and have up-to-the-minute data for their dart league or tournament! We could even have real-time internet reporting from events like States and Nationals someday 
Also, Christian Warren sent in a score for our online game that currently ranks as the second best game ever scored with a 74. Anyone scoring a 65 or better qualifies for posting amoung the high scorers, so keep those screenshots coming in!
Rotating a Stubborn Dartboard
We have a board at the bar that needed to be rotated. Unfortunately, this particular board wins the “most stubborn dartboard of the year” award, and despite our best efforts, it didn’t budge.
So, I got out the trusty hammer, and did a little operating. Basically, I banged out the inner section of the board, rotated it, and popped it back into place. So, if you’ve never rotated a dartboard and wonder what I mean by that when I mention it, I ran the camcorder while I operated. The video is available here, and on YouTube (it might be the first video on there dealing with American Darts)
I think the first thing you’ll notice is that the board is in pretty bad shape. But, once the video was done I checked the other side, and it’s in much better condition. In fact, I expect it will last the better part (if not all of) the Spring season.
The board being rotated is a Widdy Tournament board. If you have a cheaper wooden board, like say, one of the boards with a 20-inning scoring section on one side, and a “baseball scene” on the other, you won’t be able to rotate it.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I did manage to get it all done without waking up the wife.
Dorko’s Winter Classic – Recap
I was at one of the tournaments that took place Saturday, and thankfully ended before the “weather” set in in central PA. At the inaugural “Winter Classic” held at Dorko’s Cafe in Mt. Carmel, 3-man teams gathered for a tournament. There was a 110 point cap per team, with averages taken from the State tournament, the Nationals Tournaments, and then League events.
While everyone enjoyed their time shooting darts, meeting freinds they seldom see, and even making new friends at the event, darts were in the air, and shooters were still shooting to win. Several shooters had excellent days, with high games of 57 (Ed Dormer) and 56 (Joe Swatski).
As teams advanced in the brackets, it seemed as though two particular teams had hot hands and would be destined to meet in the finals. And, that’s exactly what happened, with the team of Doug Troutman/Damien Zigler/Nate Dobek taking on the team ”on the perch” of the winner’s bracket, Dennis Conti/Joe Swatski/Joe Zaharik Jr.
When the dust settled, one team stood at the top of the hill . . .
[photopress:DennisSwatYZ.jpg,full,centered]
Dennis Conti – Joe Swatski – Joe Zaharik Jr.
By all accounts, the Dorko’s Winter Classic is shaping up to be a regular stop on the tournament tour, and by taking the title in the first ever running of the event, these shooters have etched their name in record books.
December 15th Dart tournaments
this weekend there will be American style darts in the air as two different dart tournaments taking place in central PA.
this weekend seems to be a good time to get out and shoot some competitive darts. the state dart tournament will be starting after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, so it’s a good time to enter a “warm up” event. also, deer season just came to a close last week, so, where else would you rather be on a Saturday than in a tavern shooting darts?
by the way, snedeker says the weather won’t be a problem, although it’ll be a bit chilly.
The first is the inaugural running of the Dorko’s Winter Classic. it’s a 3-man event with a 110 point cap. averages are taken from the State tournament, or Nationals if you shot there. if you haven’t shot at either of those events, bring a league average.
sign ups take place at 12:30, and darts will be in the air at 1pm. with an 8-team cap (although i can see this being extended as high as 12), the winners should expect to be finishing around 9-10pm.
entry fee is $35 per team, and of course there will be food and drink available throughtout the day, and into the late evening. if you don’t have a set team, but would like to shoot, there’s a good chance you’ll find other shooters to team up with before the start of the tournament, so stop on down.
you can find a map to the place on the Dorko’s Winter Classic tournament listing.
the other event of the day happens in Mountaintop, at the Crossroads Inn. It’s a 3-man handicap event (60%) handicap. for more information, including directions, check out their page on the tournament listings section of the site.
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