The origins of darts can be traced back to 14th-century England, during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). English archers, between battles, reportedly took to throwing shortened arrows at cross-sections of tree trunks. The natural growth rings of the wood formed concentric circles that served as rudimentary scoring zones. The English word "dart" derives from the Old French "dard" (javelin), attested as early as the 13th century. Anne Boleyn is said to have given Henry VIII a richly decorated set of darts in 1530, and the Pilgrims of the Mayflower are believed to have played darts during their Atlantic crossing in 1620, according to William Bradford's journal.
By the 17th century, the game moved from military camps into English taverns and inns. The earliest targets were made from elm wood (Ulmus), whose fibres allowed dart points to stick without splitting the board. The wood had to be soaked overnight to prevent it from drying out and cracking. In the 1930s, the manufacturer Nodor (a contraction of "no odour") revolutionised the game by introducing targets made from sisal (agave fibre), which were far more durable and no longer required daily soaking. This material is still used in all competition-grade boards today.
In 1896, Brian Gamlin, a carpenter from Lancashire, devised the modern layout of the 20 numbered segments. His system is a masterpiece of design: the 20, the most coveted zone, is flanked by the 1 and the 5, so that a slightly wayward throw scores very few points. Mathematicians have since confirmed the effectiveness of this arrangement: David Percy of the University of Salford demonstrated in 2002 that there are more than 121 billion possible arrangements of the 20 numbers, and Gamlin's layout ranks in the top 3% for penalising inaccuracy. In 1924, the National Darts Association was founded in London, standardising the dimensions: 451 mm diameter, the centre (bull) placed at 1.73 m from the floor, and a throwing distance of 2.37 m (the "oche", a term probably derived from the Old French "ocher", meaning to notch).
A pivotal moment came in 1908 at Leeds Magistrates' Court. Pub landlord Jim Garside, prosecuted for hosting an illegal game of chance, invited local champion William "Bigfoot" Anakin to throw three darts before the judge. Anakin planted all three in the 20, and the judge then tried and failed to do the same. The court concluded that darts was a game of skill, not chance, paving the way for its legal play in pubs. This landmark episode is still cited today in the official history of the British Darts Organisation (BDO), founded in 1973 by Olly Croft.
The professionalisation of the sport accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1978, the first BDO World Championship final was broadcast by the BBC, attracting 8 million viewers in the United Kingdom. Leighton Rees, a Welshman from Pontypridd, won this inaugural world title. In 1994, a group of 16 players led by Phil Taylor left the BDO to found the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), triggering a split that lasted until the two circuits merged in 2020. The PDC transformed darts into a spectacle: the World Championship at Alexandra Palace in London ("Ally Pally") now draws over 90,000 spectators across two weeks and 3.5 million TV viewers for the final on Sky Sports.
Phil "The Power" Taylor dominated the sport in unprecedented fashion with 16 PDC world titles (1995-2013) and 214 major tournament wins. His record of two 9-darters (perfect legs in just 9 darts) in a single televised final in 2010 remains unmatched. The Dutchman Michael van Gerwen ("Mighty Mike"), a three-time world champion (2014, 2017, 2019), continues the pursuit of excellence with a treble-20 percentage regularly exceeding 50%. Today, electronic dartboards and mobile apps are democratising the game: over 17 million people play darts regularly in Europe according to the World Darts Federation, and the sport has been a candidate for the Olympic Games since the early 2000s.