SEWA - Cheers

TheCommandant writes "In the back country of Penn Sate -- an area a local B&B Innkeeper friendly refers to as Pennsyltucky -- I was informed that I'd not likely find an 'English' dart board but that if I wanted to toss some darts I could try out 'American Darts' at one of the local pubs.

Just like English darts, the American dartboards are becoming somewhat scarce however at Cheers in (above) I got lucky and soon found myself pounding the sisal, er I mean wood? of an American dartboard with some rather light 'widdy' darts.

I'd thrown Widdies before so it wasn't so strange to toss these light wooden arrows, but to throw them at a wooden board set on the wall a few inches lower then I am used to with different colors and sounds I must admit I felt somewhat out of my element.

After a short period of tossing the widdies a local resident (Heath) agreed to teach me the game. His brave wife Heather was left at the bar to defend herself from the local 'flavor' -- Heathers words not mine though they did seem rather lively! -- Heath was quite the gentleman and even specified that the game I was being taught was 'how he was taught' and that there were other ways to play.

I learned almost immediately that the bullseye is usually ignored and that you played a total of 9 innings. During each inning you can score a maximum of 9 'runs' by hitting the white outer ring (inside the Blue outer ring and the Red outer ring).

That was pretty much and away we went tossing darts at the board and adding up our scores! Too Easy!

The scoring was done on the board itself with rotating knobs with numbers on them and your opponent picked up your darts after you threw them and scored what you hit. Then came back and took their turn after which you went and retrieved the darts and scored.

This seems a pretty simple game requiring skill to continuously hit the outer rings (hmmmm maybe this is good practice for English darts?) and I found myself racking up scores in the mid to high 30's right away which was often double what my opponent was hitting -- maybe all those English darts I've thrown paid off?

I understand that a good American Dart player can hit in the high 40's or low 50's so perhaps I would have practice a lot but all in all I enjoyed the experience and the company of the good folks at Cheers in Quentin (or is it considered Lebanon still?) just off the PA Turnpike on highway 72. Stop there some time and say hi, have some Chili (they are supposed to have the best here) and shoot some American Style darts!

Note: Added some pictures for those who'd like to see the setup!"