Around The Clock Darts

Most people are not aware of very many dart games, and even less people are aware of proper dart terminology and etiquette. The "clock" refers to the dart board in its self.

So when you hear that the game is called Around the Clock you might have a pretty good idea of what the game is and how to play it. Even though you may have a pretty good idea of how to play, I will still enlighten you as to proper protocol.

The game is played with as many players as you so desire that means you can have two players or you could have ten; there is never any difference in game play, except you may be waiting longer for turns. First player to play his shot will grab three darts, holding them by the barrel he will aim for Annie's room.

Annie's room is the number one, and anything landing inside that section of the board can be said to have landed in Annie's room. If the player lands in his specified spot, starting with the one, he will then move up a number.

So one goes to two and two goes to three and so on. Each player is given three darts in this game for every turn.

That means each player has the ability to move up three numbers within each one of his turns, so somebody can get the first three in one single turn. If the player steps over the hockey (the designated throwing line) then his shot is foul.

Foul shots count as misses and do not get to be thrown again. If a player misses the island it counts as a foul shot.

The Island, if you do not know, is the entire playable part of the board: everything within the double ring. When I say double ring I mean that rail that lines the circumference of the island which provides double points when landed in.

There are other ways to play around the clock. For example there is a game called around the world; it is basically the same game except you have to hit each three times rather than just once.

But it gets better than that, hitting the triple counts as three and hitting the double counts as two. So you can hit the triple once or the double once with a regular shot and both would allow you to move to the next number.

Sometimes people in American bars will confuse this game with cricket. If you are English don't take offense and also don't try to correct them.

See the thing is, if you are out of your own element and in someone else's, if you are in their bar it is basically their rules. It don't matter who you are or if your right, you had better listen good and act interested too.