The winter crew has settled in nicely and things are going quite well now. It is great to see several of the people that were here when I left Palmer last June. Another fun part of the winter crowd getting here is the tradition of Continental Darts!
Continental Darts is where many of the stations in Antarctica play darts weekly. Obviously we cannot all get together and play a game a week…although that would be great! Some of the stations actually play at the same time once a week and contact each other by the radio to report the scores as they happen. However, Palmer Station is in a different time zone than the two other American stations as well as the majority of stations that take part. So, we play our games and then report the scores to the other stations by email.
Due to no witnesses from the other stations as to the accuracy of the scores reported, there have been some incidents where scores are not reported correctly…although I can say that has never happened here (as far as I know!). I have heard at least two stories of stations reporting scores for Continental Darts when they did not even have a dartboard on station! Needless to say, other stations were not very happy to hear this news.
The first night of darts was last Saturday. Chuck Kimball (winter communications) and I set up the planning and made sure it was announced at the station meeting. I was running a little late that night and got over to the bar at 7:50 when we were supposed to start at 8 p.m. When I got over there, Chuck already had everything set up.
All of the darts were laid out on the pool table so that each person could pick the set that suited him/her best. He had the computer set up in the corner with the LCD projector as well. By doing this, he was able to project the scores up on a white sheet that was hanging from the ceiling.
You might be thinking that this is a bit extravagant, but it really did help all the players. We were able to see who was going next, as well as the scores of each team without having to ask Chuck. Chuck probably enjoyed that the most!
The game that is played each week is called 301. This is where each team starts with 301 points and you subtract out your score each round until the winning team reaches zero…exactly zero! To make it a little more challenging, the teams have to “double in” and “double out.”
“Doubling in” means that you are not able to start scoring for your team until one of the team members hits a double. The doubles on the dartboard are the outermost, thin areas for each number. These pieces count as double whatever point value they are within. “Doubling in” is a very difficult thing to do often times.
If “doubling in” is hard, then “doubling out” can be called excruciatingly difficult. Remember how I said that the winning team had to hit exactly zero! That last dart has to be in the double area as well. So, instead of aiming for any and all doubles as you can do when “doubling in,” you have to hit a specific double in order to “double out.”
Also, if you have an odd number of points to go (e.g. 5, 9, 11, etc.), then you are going to have to hit another odd number in the single area and then be able to “double out.” If you go over (i.e. below zero), then you “bust.” Your turn is over and the point total from before your turn is what is still left.
On Saturday, at the busiest time in the bar, we had more than half of the station playing darts. The first game was spent mainly making sure everyone knew the rules and just warming up. The second game was the one with the most people and we had 4 teams of 4 or 5 people. After that game, several people decided to stop playing but the rest of us played yet another game.
For it being the first Saturday of the winter darts, it was a very successful night. Everyone that showed up seemed to have had a great time and most will be back this weekend as well.
We had a little trouble contacting the other stations around the continent so I don’t think any of our scores were reported. Even if there are no other stations playing around the continent, I think this will definitely be a Palmer Station regularity!