Vintage Darts and Games

Pheasant Feather Darts

I'm not sure when these darts were manufactured, but some of the sellers claim they come from the time right after WWII. It's hard to hold on to a set of American Darts for fifty years without ruffling some feathers, so many of the darts I'm seeing offered are no longer in good shape. Still, in looking at the lots some darts have retained their form, and they certainly do have a nostalgic appeal, if not a collector value to them.

To go along with the darts from yesteryear, Apex also has a set of specialty dart boards as well.

Vintage Dart Boards

The darts pictured came with the board, and are probably the common darts of that era. This board really sets up a game of "cork, or close to it" which is something that can't be shot easily on an American (or a pub board, for that matter) with it's small round center target, and the surrounding, expanding pie shaped areas.

It's also an example of a dart board that lacks the wires you'd find in modern boards that help clearly delineate between the different target areas.

Dart boards as old, and unique, as that really have a "one of a kind" aura about them. But, there are other boards that offer unique dart play, but are still in supply (although it is rather short supply).

The following boards have had their manufacturing run. There are a very few left for sale, and there are no plans to make any more. Since they are of limited supply, and aren't new, I would think of these as potential collector's items.

Still Available . . .

Some of these boards are still being stocked by different retailers, so you can buy them. But, they are no longer being produced with no plans for further production, so I thought I'd list them here.

Card Dart Board

If you have a deck of cards to go along with this board, you've probably doubled the possiblities. Simply draw a card, and hit the corresponding target. Or draw a hand of 5 or 7 cards, first to kill his hand by hitting the targets wins. But, these boards will soon be a thing of the past.

Dart Golf

This dart board is designed around the game of golf, and comes with a set of scoring rules that takes things like the "hazards" on the board into account. This is another Apex creation that is no longer being produced, so once these boards have been used, this particular version of the game of darts will fade into history.

Apex Alternative Baseball Board

The targets on the board correspond with the game of Baseball, and I'm sure the gameplay (if not includded with the bard) can be discerned from the available target areas. Some of the targets include a "strike" area, and places for each of the possible hits in the game surrounded by "out" areas.

In case anyone has surfed here and is not familiar with the traditional American Dart game of Baseball, it is not played on this specialty board. Here are the rules to the popular version of Baseball Darts.

Dart Bowl

The target areas are the different pins in a bowling set-up. The only things I can think of are to get awarded for the number of pins by the number in the target where your dart lands (which looks to be a game that loses it's fun pretty quickly).

Or, you can shoot the "head pin" at the bottom and then be allowed to continue shooting darts at targets that are connected, and at a higher level. So for example, if your first dart hits the you'll get 2 darts for aiming at the 5 or 6. If you hit the five, you'd get two darts for aiming at the 1 and 2.

That's the fun of darts though, you can make up games.