As has been mentioned, Darts of to-day is essentially a "public-house game," and in pretty nearly every inn, club, or institute where it has a footing (and in which has it not!) will be found minor variations in play and often games that are peculiar to the locality or even to the "school" itself. […] And in this domestic circle, at all events, it is thought that this set of Rules will prove a useful guide when taken in conjunction with what has already been said as regards the board, its position, the hockey-line, etc.

Henry Lewis's body was tense, taut, his toes against the hockey, his right arm raised, his left eye half-closed. With grim intensity, backed by years of practice and experience, he sighted along the steel point, drew his arm back—and let the dart fly.

Small bars would tend to produce short hockeys; the tiny fishing pubs of Yarmouth gave rise to 6ft marks […]

When top players are aiming to maximize their total with three darts, their average score can exceed 100; they also expect to hit the closing double with their first or second attempt. Reaching the target within 15 darts (i.e. five visits to the oche, to slip into the vernacular) is not unusual; […]

The pièce de résistance was the bar where I had over a dozen dart boards with pop-up oches. It was a massive success.

Whether a player is a bullshitter, adept at hitting bullseyes, or a chucker, who throws the darts willy-nilly and hopes for the best, the pull of the oche is the same.

And it's because something of the mundanely manual still adheres to darts that the players' heroic walk of honour from the green room to the oche is so incongruous. The fanfare begins, the strobes go wild, the crowds roar, hostesses wearing the sort of tinsel dresses that drove me crazy when I was eighteen escort the gladiator into the arena, only he's not a gladiator, he's a plumber.

Oche

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