The Queen Street Dart League

Q.S.D.L. checklist for bar owners.

Congratulations on your decision to participate! Joining a dart league can help your business out in more ways than you might realise and this is especially so during the colder winter months when business might be a little slower for you. Your investment in this is a small one and the benefits include:

• a guaranteed total of at least 12 people in your bar per league night.
• guaranteed sales.
• free exposure and word-of-mouth advertising.
• players coming into your bar on non-league nights.
• friends and spouses of players coming into your bar on non-league nights.
• your service staff stays busy on a Tuesday night during the winter months.
• your bar will be busier than it otherwise might have been and will be more attractive to others.

You really can't lose and it's a great way to build some exposure for your establishment.

Some of the brewers provide budgets for setting up dart areas and you might want to put a call in to your beer reps to see about it. Some bars have had dartboards, backboards, and chalkboards given to them (with company logos, of course) and this would decrease the cost for you tremendously. Even if this isn't an option for you the overall cost of setting up 2 boards from scratch is around $300.00. Maintenance after that includes replacing the boards when they wear out (once a year is standard), replacing bulbs for the lighting if they burn out and keeping chalk handy. It's a very low maintenance form of entertainment and you could probably make your money back after 2 league nights.

Still with us? Great! Here's the short-list of what you'll be needing:

   At least 2 dartboards

   At least 2 backboards

   Suitable lighting (track or fluorescent)

   2 toelines (oches)

   2 chalkboards

   Erasers and chalk

The Dart Area

A standard rule-of-thumb is that you need a space that is 11 feet deep and 5-6 feet wide (for each board). For 2 boards you'll need about 10-12 feet in width of available space. An isolated area with minimal traffic is also beneficial. The area should be free of any obstructions and especially of anything breakable as darts can bounce off of the boards. There should also be room for players and spectators. 8 players should be able to be in or around the dart area at the time without feeling too cramped and any spectators should be able to watch the matches without getting in the way of your serving staff or other customers.

Dartboard Setup

When considering space availability, you should have at least 3 feet between boards and enough space on either side of each board for a chalkboard and a person standing near it safely. During matches, a "chalker" (a person who will chalk that game for the players) needs to stand a little off to the side of the chalkboard so that the players can see the scores. You also need 2 boards, minumum, in order to have a team play in our League.

The center of the bullseye of the dartboard needs to be 5 feet 8 inches from the floor and the toeline (oche) needs to be 7 feet 9 3/4 inches from the front of the board. These measurements also need to be exact.

Lighting

This can be a little tricky as your dart area might not be optimally set up to accomodate great lighting. Essentially you're trying to illuminate the board so that shadows don't form when there's a dart in the board. If you can stand on the oche and see the number that your dart has hit without shadows getting in the way, the lighting is fine. Most bars & pubs tend to go with halogen track-lighting on the ceiling, maybe 4 feet away from the boards. Fluorescent lighting directly above the boards (beaming light downward) are supposedly the best.

Flooring

Due to the nature of the game, the dart area will experience a higher frequency of traffic than other areas in your establishment. Because of this, the type of flooring that you use will be important. Carpet will eventually wear out and holes from bouncing darts will show on a wooden floor. Dart mats are available, although they tend to be fairly expensive and the cheapest way to get around it is to just buy two strips of carpet that are 3 feet wide by 7 feet long and to put them out on dart nights. Concrete of tile flooring can cause the darts to dull or even break and is not recommended.

Chalkboards

You'll be needing a chalkboard for each dartboard and they need to be large enough to score league matches. Some brewers can supply your bar with them but if you need to buy them, you can browse the catalogue at HotShotsCanada.com and they'll send them to you through the mail.

Chalk and brushes

You'll need to have a box of white chalk on-hand and a couple of brushes for erasing the chalkboards. You can find these materials at nearly any Office Depot™, Grand & Toy™, or art-supply shop. Powderless chalk is always good (less mess) but any standard Crayola™ brand chalk should work just fine.

The Oche (toeline)

Each board will need one and the front of the line needs to be exactly 7 feet 9 3/4 inches from the front of the board. There are various ways to mark the line and most pubs go with a metal strip that is screwed into the floor. Tape and other adhesives eventually wear out and lift. Whatever you decide to use, the line should be 3 feet wide.

Food

Traditionally, all of the participating pubs and bars put out “snack foods” for the players, free of cost. Typically this will consist of some wings, fries, pizza, nachos, etc. What gets put out is up to the bar and it is simply a gesture on behalf of the bar. It is not mandatory. Speak to a team captain or contact us for more information.

If this is a little daunting for you we'd be more than happy to have one of our Executive members come out to your bar and assess your area. It's not that difficult to set up and could be done in an afternoon quite easily. If you have any questions or would like more infomation, please do not hesitate to contact us.