Baby fish
A 130 checkout via 20, triple 20, and bullseye, sounds simple, right? Well, not until Wayne “Hawaii 501” Mardle, the cheeky ex-darter and Sky Sports analyst, decided to spice it up at the 2020 World Championship. During the match between Peter “Snakebite” Wright (who threw the infamous “baby fish”) and Dutchman Jeffrey De Zwaan, Mardle dropped the term for the first time.
Now, every time someone nails a 130 checkout, we can thank Mardle for making it sound like a tropical cocktail instead of a darting masterpiece.
Baby ton
Where a “ton” is famously known as a score of 100, in the case of a baby ton, we’re talking about a slightly less impressive total of 95. This happens when someone throws a triple 19 and a double 19, basically, the darts version of “close, but no cigar!”
Bag of nails
A ‘bag of nails’ is what happens when all three of your darts decide to have a get-together in the single 1. There are more darting gems like this, such as ‘The Eric Bristow,’ named after the English dart maestro who once pulled off this stunning move in a televised tournament. Scoring just three points is about as helpful as a chocolate teapot, making no real impact on the game. It’s akin to how a bag of nails is just a small part of hanging a fancy dart cabinet on the wall.
Bag of nuts
Getting a score of 45 isn’t just any score, it’s dart-astic! Originating in the quirky land of Berkshire, this phrase comes from an old-timey fair. Picture this, each year, there was a dart booth where the sharp-eyed participants who managed to hit the exact score of 45 with three darts were awarded… drumroll, please… a bag of nuts! Oh, what a nutty prize! Fast forward to the 1930s and it wasn’t just any old tradition, it was the thing to do at English fairs.
Barrel
The dart barrel is the most valuable part of every soft and steel dart. Sure, the flight, shaft and tip get their moments of fame, but the dart barrels and their weight are the real game-changers when it comes to arrow trajectory. Each player has their own unique throwing style, like darting snowflakes, no two are the same. It all begins with the grip and carries through the entire majestic throwing motion.
Barrow
Barrow is just a fancy, old-timey way of saying ‘barrel.’ It’s like the word decided to put on a top hat and monocle to sound more sophisticated, but everyone just rolled their eyes and went back to calling it a barrel.