American darts

American darts is a regional variant of the game of darts, most often found in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and parts of New York state. American darts originated in eastern Pennsylvania in the early 20th century; this style of darts was first played in both the Philadelphia area and the Coal Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Despite the name of this variant, the most common form of darts in the United States is the traditional English version.

There are a number of differences between an American board and a traditional English board. American darts uses a board made of basswood, using the end grain. High-quality boards have rotatable centers that can be turned so the board will wear more evenly.

Embedded in the board are thin steel wires that separate the board into scoring sections, as opposed to the wider steel dividers placed onto the surface of traditional boards. On those English boards, the wider steel makes it much more likely that the dart will hit the steel divider and bounce off onto the floor. Since the dividers on an American board are much thinner, usually around 0.01 inches [0.25 mm], and they are completely pressed into the surface, it is extremely unlikely that the dart will bounce off from hitting the steel.

The scoring areas on an American darts board are also laid out differently from an English board. The center bullseye (or cork) on an American board is one section; there is no "inner" and "outer" bullseye. Additionally, unlike the English board, the treble ring is not halfway between the outer edge and the bullseye; rather triple is itself on the outer edge, and the double ring is directly adjacent to it, just inside the triple ring. The remainder of the board is the single scoring area. The bullseye is colored red, the single area is uncolored, the double ring is red, and the outermost triple ring is uncolored. The entire scoring area is bounded by a large out-of-bounds blue ring.

The number sequence (20, 1, 18, 4, etc.) is the same as on an English dart board.

An "American" board is mounted a few inches lower, and a few inches closer, than the more commonly seen "English" board. The center of the cork is 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) from the floor. The distance is set at 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) from the back of the dartboard. This would result in a distance of 106.4 inches (2.70 m) from the center of the cork to the throw line. On the other hand, the ABDA (American Baseball Darts Association) sets the distance at 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) from the front of the board. This is 107.4 inches (2.73 m) from the centre of the cork to the throw line.

The darts are made of wooden barrels, fletched with turkey feather flights glued in place. A metal tip assembly is bored into the end of the wooden section. The exposed (visible) end of the tip assembly is either tempered steel or brass. The other end of the tip assembly (the section inserted inside the wood barrel) had a lead weight attached. Placing this heavier end of the metal assembly inside the wood tends to move the center of gravity away from the tip and towards the center of the dart, creating a stable flight.