Sport in a pub.

There are many public houses in London and elsewhere, where beer, wine and spirits may be bought and drunk at certain times of the day. These are suitable for all classes of the community and provide a place, where people may meet together and talk, and perhaps play at darts or other games, as well as drink.

In the bar of every English "pub" there is a dartboard, and on most evenings the game of darts is being played. This is a traditional English game. The first record of something like the modern game appears in a sixteenth century. In this tournament people threw missiles in a target by hand, instead of using a bow.

The dartboard has numbered sections and the score depends on the section in which the dart lands. The darts are small, about 12 cm long, and have a steel point, a metal body and the three feathers. A set of three darts is used and each player throws them in turns. Expert players usually have their own private set of darts, but pubs always provide a set for occasional players. If you hit the very middle - you hit the bull's eye, which give you the highest score.

Pubs are really an essential part of English life. Most customers in the smaller pubs play games such as dominoes, darts or snooker. Snooker is a variation of billiards played with 15 red balls and 6 variously colored ones. And in many local pubs there are the teams of players of snooker who play matches against teams from other pubs. The idea has developed so far that there are even national championships in snooker and darts.