Playing darts in the comfort of your own game room, or local bar, brings plenty of joy. Organizing and playing tournaments is even better. What better way to show off all those skills you’ve built up over the years? But sometimes we crave a little more.
Leaving local confines means finding better players, and the best players are found on the national and international circuits. So strap yourself in, because we’re going to look at the biggest dart tournaments in the world.
BDO WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP
In 1994 a group broke off from the BDO and formed their own darts organization, the Professional Darts Corporation. To match their old rivals, they not only created a world tournament of their own, but timed it right before the BDO event. The 2012 tournament has already finished, with Adrian Lewis of England winning for the second straight year. The prize money is actually a bit bigger in the PDC event: for the third straight year it reached £1,000,000. It doesn’t get quite the media attention, but the crowds at Alexandra Palace in London still get their money’s worth.
PDC WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP
In 1994 a group broke off from the BDO and formed their own darts organization, the Professional Darts Corporation. To match their old rivals, they not only created a world tournament of their own, but timed it right before the BDO event. The 2012 tournament has already finished, with Adrian Lewis of England winning for the second straight year. The prize money is actually a bit bigger in the PDC event: for the third straight year it reached £1,000,000. It doesn’t get quite the media attention, but the crowds at Alexandra Palace in London still get their money’s worth.
WINMAU WORLD MASTERS
While the BDO might be the biggest darts tournament in the world, it is not the oldest. The Winmau World Masters has been around a little longer. It also holds a special prestige for players as well. After all, not every tournament winner is referred to as World Master. The Winmau tournament used to represent the last leg of the BDO’s tournament string, but three of them have since ceased operations. That leaves just the World Darts Championship and Winmau World Masters as their only two major tournaments.
ATTENDING LIVE & IN PERSON
It’s not exactly easy to get out to these tournaments. They both span the course of at least a week, and that’s some serious time to take off. You’ll have to scour for some cheap travel arrangements and stick to inexpensive dining options if you want to do it on a budget. But even if you can only make it for a few days, getting to one of these tournaments is a great experience for any darts player, even casual ones. It’s not every day that we get the opportunity for the best in the world to test their mettle.