Dartball’s indoor game

Players have been competing in the Mon Yough Dartball League since 1928. Wisconsin formed a State Dartball Committee in 1951. Still, many people have not even heard of the game of Dartball, and yet have had the opportunity to play.

While Dartball is a game played with darts and a board, it is nothing like the more popular versions of darts. For example, instead of being rounded with 20 scoring areas called “innings,” a Dartball board is a four foot by four foot square with scoring areas directly related to the game of American baseball.

The board is placed two feet off the floor and is tilted to look like a diamond shape. It is also slanted so that the bottom edge is eight inches closer to the handle than the top edge. This makes it easier for the board to accept darts that fall at the downward end of its flight path.

Players stand twenty to twenty-five feet from the board and throw darts at it. Each dart will have a scoring area that has an associated action. For example, you can land in a “strike” area or in a “foul ball” area. The game proceeds like a baseball game, with a player throwing darts until they make an out, get a hit, or walk.

There are sections on the board that score as a double play, a sacrifice, and a “two-base single.” A two-base single advances two bases to any base runner and places the batter on first base. Dartball is essentially a game of baseball, played with darts.

The exact rules of the game will differ slightly from Dartball league to Dartball league. For example, some leagues will have a firing line at twenty feet, others at twenty-five. Other leagues will have two shooting lines, one closer for children and seniors, and a standard line for all other players. Wisconsin has a set of rules that the leagues share, allowing them to have an official state Dartball tournament.

Unlike other forms of darts that have been installed in taverns and pubs, Dartball has been adopted as a favorite pastime of church social organizations. Many of the oldest and most active Dartball leagues are church leagues where games are played in church halls, making Dartball a family affair.