hist-games: darts

[Siegling, Van M]

As a possible lead, I would suggest contacting the newsgroup for dart
competitions.  (No, I don't know if such a newsgroup exists, but I would
be surprised if it didn't.  I do know there is an organization that
oversees dart tournaments nationwide.  They probably have either a
newsgroup or a web page.)
	As an amateur military historian, I know I have seen mention of
darts in battle reports from ancient and/or medieval times.  But these
were weapons of war, much heavier, used to injure or kill someone.  (I
would hazard a guess that these military darts probably were similar in
length and weight to lawn "Jarts", formerly a commercial product.  Due
to safety and legal liability considerations, I doubt that "Jarts" are
still available in stores.)   I do not know when the military
application evolved into a competitive, but non-lethal, game.
       	Hope the lead works out for you.       Van Siegling     

> ----------
> From: 	Mark Waks[SMTP:justin at intermetrics.com]
> Sent: 	Monday, November 17, 1997 10:50 AM
> To: 	Robert Beaulieu
> Cc: 	hist-games at pbm.com; sca-east at world.std.com; sca-middle at dnaco.net
> Subject: 	Re: hist-games: darts
> 
> Robert Beaulieu wrote:
> > Are darts game period?
> >         Are they medieval?
> 
> The short answer: we don't know for sure, but probably not. This is
> one
> of those holy grails of us tavern gamers: I would *love* to find some
> evidence that something reasonably close to modern darts is period,
> but
> so far I haven't seen a shred of it.
> 
> I gather that they did have "darts" in period, but they appear to have
> been rather different from modern darts: much larger, maybe made from
> broken arrows (or even bigger). It's also conspicuous that darts tend
> not to be referred to in *gaming* sources per se. So it's likely that
> "darts", insofar as they existed, were something much closer to
> archery:
> an active, larger-scale, probably outdoor activity, rather than a
> game.
> 
> I'd love to be proven wrong, but as best I can tell, darts as we know
> the game probably evolved well after period...
> 
> 				-- Justin
> 				   Who is rather fond of darts...
> 
> Random Quote du Jour:
> 
> "Y'know, lad, the greatest sin of the American preacher is to have
> nothing to
>  say -- and to say it."
> 		-- A Scottish friend of the Frugal Gourmet
> 
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