There are many public houses in London and elsewhere, where beer, wine
and spirits may be bought and drunk at certain times of the day. These
are suitable for all classes of the community and provide a place, where
people may meet together and talk, and perhaps play at darts or other
games, as well as drink.
In the bar of every English "pub" there is a
dartboard, and on most evenings the game of darts is being played. This
is a traditional English game. The first record of something like the
modern game appears in a sixteenth century. In this tournament people
threw missiles in a target by hand, instead of using a bow.
The dartboard has numbered sections and the
score depends on the section in which the dart lands. The darts are
small, about 12 cm long, and have a steel point, a metal body and the
three feathers. A set of three darts is used and each player throws them
in turns. Expert players usually have their own private set of darts,
but pubs always provide a set for occasional players. If you hit the
very middle - you hit the bull's eye, which give you the highest score.
Pubs are really an essential part of English
life. Most customers in the smaller pubs play games such as dominoes,
darts or snooker. Snooker is a variation of billiards played with 15 red
balls and 6 variously colored ones. And in many local pubs there are
the teams of players of snooker who play matches against teams from
other pubs. The idea has developed so far that there are even national
championships in snooker and darts.
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