From December 15 to January 3, the World Championship in darts will take place at the Alexandra Palace. Those who can’t throw real darts at home might wonder if there’s a video game for it.
While the football teams are about to go into the winter break, a spectacle is currently taking place at the Alexandra Palace in London: the annual World Darts Championship is about to begin. With six participants, more Germans than ever before are taking part in the biggest and most important competition in the sport.
Darts has thrown itself into the spotlight in this country. Ten years ago, only a few made their way to London, but now German fan chants can be heard loudly echoing through the Ally Pally.
If you catch darts fever, you can easily buy a board and get started. But a lack of space or the noise of the arrows hitting the board could get in the way. Are a PC or a console an alternative?
Last game almost 13 years ago
First the bad news: there is no current and high-quality video game about the PDC competitions. However, if you have an older console, you can virtually step up to the oche with legends who have long since retired. Record world champion Phil Taylor would be one to mention.
This is possible with PDC World Championship Darts, which was last released in 2009. Possibly still available, but difficult to get, is the game for PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii. Otherwise, there are indie titles for consoles, PC and smartphones. However, these have no licenses and the gameplay is not always recommendable.
It is unclear whether there will be another high-quality darts video game in the future. The question also arises as to whether this is even wanted. This has already been discussed in various forums. The general opinion was that people would much rather play real darts. But who knows: maybe a successful tournament by a German can create further hype – and a rethink when it comes to virtual darts.
