Do you think the game of darts should change?

greened

Wes Newton becomes the 17th player to hit a perfect game this season in the PDC.
A few years ago in his autobiography, John Lowes suggested two things to bring darts forward:

1) do away with the markers on stage and have the marking done on screen with a computer

2) and his biggest suggestion was start off 601 as to many players were hitting 9 darters.

This was about 5 years ago. Since then there has been two in the one match (Taylor) and also one in a double in, double out, tournament (Dolan) and 17 so far this season (PDC only).

Making games longer may not appeal to Murdock and SKY TV or the boisterious crowds at the TV events now attract but what are the thoughts out there from players?

Have some of the pro's mastered the game of 501 to much and would a bigger starting number level things out a bit and make it more interesting?

Whats are the thoughts out there?

dartbhoy

It's funny you should bring this topic up as myself and my brother were discussing the other night about how regular 9 darters are hit in PDC tournaments,it seems like there's 1 hit every weekend there so popular! Then you look at the BDO and the last one was a few years ago in the World Masters by John Walton!

Personally I wouldn't like to see a change to the 501 game but possibly 601 games should be tried at PDC floor tournaments on a trial basis to see how it goes. It might be required to test the players even more considering the regularity of 9 dart finishes now.

dvae

Id probably give up darts if they made it 601. Golf has its hole in 1s, snooker has its 147s why cant darts have its 9 darters.
Everybody likes to see 9 darters, its what makes the game as exciting as it is.
Decides if it was made 601 people would say "did you see Taylors 11 darter last night". Same thing just bigger number.

tamloc

What about using the Quadro board. Makes life a bit harder. http://www.crowsdarts.com/reviews/quadro.html

pudzy

i wouldnt agree with the 601 start.. but double in double out would reduce the number off 9 darters.. even would pull taylor back a bit.. (well thats if guys can sharpen up on the doubles:)

thedivil

They should show county league darts on tv.1 match a week would be good.
Something like that ?

stylie

Typical, wait years and years to see nine darters on tv and now people are talking about changing it, will we give 601 a few years and then go 701 ?

thedivil

I wonder if they made Taylor just throw 2 darts a visit would he still beat everybody

gramar

What is wrong with 9 dart finishes in TV? Just because they're becoming more common is hardly reason to make the game harder. It is still an amazing feat and when you consider all the darts thrown and the quality of the players it's hardly surprising to see them a bit more often.

If they want to make the game more difficult they could do various things
like increasing the throwing distance or making the T20 bed smaller but just because in football someone scores 8 or 9 doesn't mean there should be a campaign to make the goal smaller. In tennis lots of players hit 40 or 50 aces per match but I don't see them jacking up the nets.

thedivil

I think the players would love to have no markers but there would still be the caller in there eyeline unless they computerise the caller and markers.
The game is perfect the way it is why change a good thing

greened

So the general concensus is that the game should not change. Even though I started this thread I am unsure myself as to weather it should change. Interesting that some people think the change is all about making it harder for Taylor. That should not be the reason to change, the reason should be about making the game more challenging. For example the introduccction of the back pass rule in football a few years ago. This was introduced to make the game more attacking.
Interesting that most people think that the game should not change especially when the two suggested changes where made by a pro dart player...John Lowe

gramar

greened wrote: »

So the general concensus is that the game should not change. Even though I started this thread I am unsure myself as to weather it should change. Interesting that some people think the change is all about making it harder for Taylor. That should not be the reason to change, the reason should be about making the game more challenging. For example the introduccction of the back pass rule in football a few years ago. This was introduced to make the game more attacking.
Interesting that most people think that the game should not change especially when the two suggested changes where made by a pro dart player...John Lowe

I think the game is already plenty challenging - for that simple reason it doesn't need to be changed. Human or electronic scorers won't make any difference to the difficulty and neither will making it 601. Look at the hat-tricks being scored by Messi and Ronanldo in Spain the last few weeks - should a hat-trick now be 4 goals and you only get to keep the ball then?

thedivil

To make it harder they just have to make the trebles and doubles smaller.It would be a weird looking board then.

ceadaoin.

thedivil wrote: »

To make it harder they just have to make the trebles and doubles smaller.It would be a weird looking board then.

You can get practice boards that are like this.

http://www.dartscorner.co.uk/Dartboards-Trainer-Boards/c342_1082/index.html

gramar

They should handicap the top players like in golf - Taylor would start at 501 and a player ranked 10 would start at 491 and 45th at 461. They could also
use a spinning board - slow for the lower ranking players and spinning like a top for Taylor.

Kingp35

Lads some of you have to be taking the piss with the suggestions on this thread. I don't think the game needs changing at all. What is the problem with people getting better at the sport? It's inevitable that it's going to happen when you have someone like Taylor around, he raises the standard so much that the others have to try and catch up.

There is nothing wrong with the sport, it's hugely popular and long may it continue.

stylie

Definitely make the trebles smaller so we can get rid of all those stupid 180 cards the supporters hold up and replace them with one we all can relate to 81. We can save money to by cutting them in half and holding them upside down

fandabydozy

Why not revert back to days of old, lets have televised comps with players throwing from lengths varying from 7'6" right up to 9' would certainly separate the men from the boys and catch the bookies on the hop ? (maybe lol)

mussha

as we know the longer format is better for the top end players so playing 601 would only make the step bigger.

the game is grand the way it is, time for more people to step up to the mark is all.

Lazarus2.0

There's a novelty value in different formats but I dont think you'd need to look much further than the Lewis v Anderson final at Ally Pally to see that 501 is and should be here to stay for a long time yet . As mussha said , with a shorter game it gives players an opportunity to step up to or at least aspire to the same mark .

amacachi

I'd say Sky would love 601, they could break after every set then instead of maybe 2 out of 3, they'd probably managed to increase ads.

I don't see a problem with Darts as it is. Popularity might be waning a little but that's due to over-saturdation IMO. I can think of few fundamental changes to any sport (other than Rugby League) that made it more popular.