Mobile Apps for Darts: iPhone, Android, Blackberry

What would your darts app do?

Seems nowadays everything ends with the phrase "There's an app for that". Yet when I look around for a darts app, all I seem to find is Darts Scorer for iPhone, something called Pro Darts for the iPhone and a few others for keeping score or playing dart games on your mobile device.

Being a darts junkie, I really don't need help with keeping score and despite my love for the sport, I don't really care to whither hours away honing in my skills on my Blackberry when I could be standing in front of an actual dart board with my arrows.

Being a techno-junkie on the other hand inclines me to remedy the situation by developing a mobile app that makes sense for us crazy fans of darts.

Having said that, I am asking you - the darts community - what you'd like to have in a mobile app for darts. I intend on engineering the app to be available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry and I intend on offering it as a free download.

So far my ideas include:

• A list of different dart games with their rules/how to play
• Real time darts news from the major outlets
• Player profiles and stats
• Darts pub locator/directory
• Major dart tournament schedules
• Dart videos
• The ability to share/post within social networks
• Live streams from major events (if I can tackle that)

I'm wide open to your feedback and suggestions, and I'd like everyone to jump in. Bottom line is, I'd hate to put a lot of work into an app that me and maybe a dozen others may use. I'd like to create this for darts junkies that would be interested in having their darts fix available to them wherever they go.

The comments area is open for discussion, or you can hit me up on Twitter, join the conversation on Facebook or if you really have to shoot me an email.

Thanks in advance for your input!

UPDATE JULY 30, 2010

From @rrrebo via Twitter:

I want to run my blind draw from my BlackBerry. Simple barckets, click to move the winner over, automatically moves the loser to the loser's bracket. Maybe input # of boards and have the app randomize assignments to ensure fair rotation. Too much? :)

And my response via Twitter:

Great idea! Although if your tourneys go anything like mine you'll have players chasing you around to look at the phone all night!

I think this is a great suggestion! It brings to mind how many features to add. Number of players? Payout calculator? @rrrebo has the gears in my head running already...

New Darts Game - Sniper!

Well, it's new to me anyway...

Last night a few of us had arrived early for the weekly dart tournament, and a fellow shooter introduced us to an interesting game that focuses primarily on the doubles. You can include as many players as there are numbers on the board (21), and the double bull can be used. Here's how it is played:

Each player throws one dart with their off hand (ie: right handed players throw left handed). The number they hit becomes their assigned double. So if a player hits a single 19, the double 19 becomes their assigned double for opponents to shoot at. No two players can be assigned the same double, so if a player hits a number that is already taken they simply pull their dart and throw again until they hit an un-assigned number. Once all players have an assigned double, the throwing order is determined by closest to the bull to farthest from the bull.

The object of the game is to hit each opponents double three times to knock them out of the match. This is interesting because it is a collective effort by all players, three marks on any players double eliminates that player. In order to start each player must hit their assigned double to be activated (double in), then they may start marking the doubles they hit on their opponents assigned numbers.

If you hit your own double after being activated, it counts as a mark on your number. For example, last night I was assigned the double 14 and an opponent the double 11. That created a scenario to where either one of us could miss the intended double and slip into our own, thus shooting ourselves in the foot so to speak. It also provided our opponents a nice slice of the board to take us out early.

The way we were chalking it was simply listing the players in their throwing order with their assigned double next to their names. Once a player has hit their assigned double to get in, they can circle their number and begin aiming at all opponents assigned doubles. Three marks next to any player and they're out of the game, last player remaining gets the glory.

Good luck with it!

New Books On Darts!

Darts columnist and darts enthusiast extraordinaire Paul Seigel - aka Dartoid - has just published two new books about darts! And I am proud and honored to have gotten the call to design the book covers this time around. Despite the publisher insisting on handling the typesetting. But it's what inside these books that counts!

Without question I recommend Dartoid's first book, It's A Funny Game, Darts, Life, and the new additions are just as much of a great read for dart players.

2008 – The Year in Darts chronicles a great year in the sport as translated through the creative mind of Dartoid. Expect the usual facts, play by play recollections, unforgettable highlights and occasional humor thrown in for a great read and a great addition to what I know is your never ending library of darts books.

The Outrageous and Completely Untrue History of the Sport of Darts is a hilarious rendition of the way the sport of darts became what is is today from the creation of darts in the Garden Of Eden to present day competition. As you can see by the cover, the cast of characters is nothing short of comedy gold.

Order yours today from the Toid' Shop, and expect more from Dartoid later this year!