This will probably seem a bit silly, but here is the premise. State law in my state more or less prohibits any kind of competitive game of darts because darts falls under the classification as a game of luck and thus is gambling. As a result, I've really been wondering about the following things. Not that they are actually pertinent to me, seeing as I am a terrible player [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

So my questions to my fellow dart players are something like this:

*Best city/region to live in to practice and play darts?

*Best city/region to compete in tournaments on a regular basis?

I've poured over the ADO's page a hundred times and constantly see money tournaments being played nearly every day of the week in multiple cities. However, with the prizes are being split between so many divisions and games, the payouts become extremely small compared to a fulltime 40 hour job or even just compared to travel expenses.

*How do players trying to get experience make this economically feasible ?

*Is there some secret North American Pro Tour Bus driving from city to city fueled by the winnings of sweaty dart players?

I am just going to take a wild guess and say that although north american play is probably fiercely competitive at the higher levels, that there are probably many more low and intermediate level tournaments in the UK(where proximity of tourny to tourny is probably much smaller).

*Assuming that to be true, and combining it with the immense difficulty to get a work visa in the UK, how have americans like Larry butler, darin young, and gary mawson broken into the british scene? Invitation from ranking points?

I'm going to say the single best area to play darts is the east coast, New England.

The states are close together and allows for easy travel.

The Minute Man dart league in Massachusetts is the biggest steel tip dart league

in the world.

There are many dart tournaments and luck of the draws to be had in Mass as well.

Kind of gives it the "UK" feel. A lot of top shooters gathered in a small area.

Most of the top pro's in the US manage to travel because of sponsorship. That is the biggest single reason that the soft tip players can travel to Hong Kong each month to play in the World's.

The PDC runs tours in alot of countries. Being successful on these helps to get you to the UK. Having a substantial amount of money behind you also helps. Once again sponsorship is the big key there.

I know of a few aussies that have had a go at the PDC tour in the UK and they all had sponsors. Some were just a family that they stayed with as their base camp, others provided money for entry fee's and travel expenses.

How can they say darts is a game of luck?

This was what happened in the early days of darts in England, it was illegal to have it in pubs until Foot Anakin proved in court that it was a game of skill, just ask them to luckily hit a 180!

Came here to say exactly what grip said...
....I'll just go now...

In all seriousness, Warwickshire in the Uk's a great place to play

I can give you a few options of good areas for darts. I'll agree with Winmau, the New England area is strong for darts. Philly has a long dart history and American darts (baseball) is lots of fun. The Virginia Beach area has a very strong league and they have one of the best tournaments in the country every year (The Virginia Beach Classic). St. Louis is another great area. Lots of top ranked players in the area and they offer both soft and steel tip at several locations.

I live in Nashville and we have a huge league with lots of support and we have a great tournament here every year (The Music City Classic). In fact there are several strong leagues here in Tennessee. Chattanooga and Murfreesboro both have great leagues as well. All of the ones I've mentioned above have leagues within the ADO and they have local and regional qualifiers that will give you the opportunity to reach the higher levels and rankings.

I'd say check the ADO, ADA or NDA websites (depending if you prefer soft or steel) and look for links to local area websites. There is usually an email address for a league board member. Most will be more than happy to give you information about their league as well as upcoming events. I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions just PM me and I'll help any way I can.

^^^ I'll add something to what Shane said about the other great areas to play.

He mentioned there is soft tip available in those areas as well.

Something lacking in New England for sure.

When i was in Maine I only played soft tip a couple times.

VERY hard to find a soft tip board. Perfect for a hard core steel tip player though.

In some areas it's getting harder and harder to find a steel tip board. I travel all over the US and overseas for my job and I carry both soft and steel darts with me just in case. I could only find soft in areas of South Carolina, Florida, Texas (although some areas have strong steel tip leagues) and California. West Tennessee (Memphis area) is exclusively soft. Even if you find a steel tip board it will be beat to death and several years old.

I started out in soft tip and I enjoy playing either one and I really don't get all the battles over steel verses soft. I don't want to start that arguement either please!

The big thing in the US seems to be promotion. There may be a huge league in or near your area but if you don't know the right places to look, you may not even know it's there. There are never commercials, radio spots or newspaper adds telling about a venue or league in the area. dartbars.com used to be a good place to find info for places to play but it's so outdated its pitiful. I used to check it before every trip to find a place to play but almost every place I'd find on there was closed down, changed names, or no longer had boards.