I've been playing steel-tip darts since 1983, and have been involved in our local league here in Seattle since 1984. I love the game of darts, and I've always wanted to see as many folks playing the game as possible, in that darts was the first activity I found which gave me an "in" among my peers. If I can play the game, then anyone can do it ! :-)
Here in Seattle, our steel-tip dart league is called the Emerald City Darting Organization ( ECDO ), www.seattledarts.com, and we normally have 2 divisions of league players. Our league is a pub league, and we do not have the further opportunities of "Super League" or Inter-County play.
We'd love to have such structures, but the surrounding cities near us don't have leagues, or not enough players to comprise leagues, so their players commute to our league to play. It would be great if we could get the surrounding cities to have leagues again, or if we could get such structures in place as folks are fortunate to have via the BDO Inter County system - would be fun to see it happen down the road if we could get the players and systems in place. :-)
Our "B" league plays on Wednesdays, and our "A" league plays on Thursdays. Both matches start at 7:30pm real time, not bar time, and usually run about 3 hours in length, although sometimes the B matches run longer if there's "double trouble" finishing games. We have generally 2 league seasons a year, our Fall league starts usually in early to mid September, and runs usually till early January, with breaks for Thanksgiving, and Christmas weeks, while our Spring league usually starts in mid March or early April, and runs until June.
This Summer we were able to get a Summer doubles league going, which we had 14 teams participating in, which has been a lot of fun. We've usually not been able to get a Summer league going due to that is when the weather is nicest, and folks want to be outside, but this year a lot of players wanted to have one, which was nice. It's been very well received, and folks are having fun which is what it's all about. :-)
This past Spring season we were successful in not only having our usual B and A divisions, but a AA division, where the very best players and teams were located. This made the season more fun, and more competitive for the remaining teams in the B and A divisions, in that the top teams weren't simply crushing the opposing teams each week, also it made it more fun for the AA teams in that they were more evenly matched against each other.
The format was popular with players and teams, and it was the first time in many years that we had enough players and teams in each of the divisions where we could divide them that way.
Our league teams can be comprised of a minimum of 4 players up to a maximum of 6 players. With our league match formats with 4 players it gives the minimum of players so that teams can play the doubles games, while with 6 players, everyone gets a good number of games per match, and it gives the team captains more flexibility when matching players in games. Plus, with 5 or 6 players on a team if someone needs to miss a match due illness, or being out of town due work or vacation, then the team captain should still be able to assemble 4 players minimum to comprise a match team without having to scramble to find someone to substitute. It can be stressful to find out a day before, or sometimes day of the match that either your team, or your opponent will be short a player, so most teams try to have 5 or 6 players to cover themselves just in case.
Our B team matches are comprised currently of 21 games in a match. We play 5 games of 401 singles, straight start, double out, then 5 games of American Cricket singles, then 5 games of 501 doubles, straight start, double out, then 5 games of American Cricket doubles, then 1 team game of 801 straight start, double out.
There has been some talk of reducing the number of games from 21 down to 17 per match, due some players and teams had matches that went on long, sometimes to "double trouble", so we'll bring that up before the membership, and see whether or not the players want a shortened format when our Fall league starts in Sept.
Our A team matches are comprised of 25 games in a match. 6 games of 301 singles, double on, double out, 6 games of American Cricket singles, 6 games of 501 doubles, double start and double out, 6 games of American Cricket doubles, and 1 team game of 1001, straight start, double finish.
Some players and teams like to play the 801 / 1001 teams first at the start of the match, as a warm up game, and to get everyone a chance to throw, and socialize with the other team, while other players and teams like to play it last, at the close of the match, as the matches have sometimes come down tied, where the final game is a tie breaker, and match winner. That way they feel that everyone has a chance to participate in a tie-breaker game if the match is tied. Our seasonal rules, and scoresheet have it listed last, but we've said that it could be played first as long as both team captains and teams agree.
Each team usually plays each opposing team twice a season, once at their home sponsor bar, and the other match at the other team's home bar. Most of the bars in our league are located in the North end of Seattle, which means that the travel distances to an "away" match mean not having to travel too far. A few of our establishments are able to field a number of teams where even when teams have an "away" match they're still playing at their home bar against one of the bar's other teams. That's particularly fun when the establishment has great food, beer, and nice board setups with ample space for players, teams and spectators. :-)
Outside of league nights we have two nights a week where we have informal pub tournaments open to any and all players, whether league players or not, any and all folks are welcome. Each player puts in $5 entry fee, and the
sponsoring bar matches the amount contributed by the players. Then players are paired up into doubles teams by a blind draw, and then each team plays each other team usually 2 games of 501 , straight start, double out in a "round robin" format.
If there's not enough players on a given night to pair folks into doubles teams, then we'll play singles instead. At the close of play the monies are split between the top 3 players or teams. It's good fun, and nice for folks who are new to darts, where they can get their feet "wet" and meet players, and hopefully then get into the league.
Electronic soft-tip darts have a strong foothold in this region of the US, and that's made it tougher for steel-tip leagues such as ours to get folks into the traditional steel-tip game, and get more establishments into supporting the league. Fortunately the league is growing again, which is really nice to see - hopefully we can continue to get more folks and establishments into the game.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you've enjoyed reading a bit about our local league, ECDO, here in Seattle. If your travels should bring you to Seattle, I hope that we'll see you on the oche !
Best wishes, and "Good Darting" !
Glen Huff