Nowhere can be heard the bellowing cry of “one hundred and eighty” in a thick British accent.

Good luck searching out a tasty pint of Guinness – or Newcastle Brown Ale – or anything of the like in this particular venue.

And while there are a good number of participants convening on this Tuesday night in the basement of the Moose Lodge (Frood Road – Sudbury), one would be hard-pressed to find any fans on hand, cheering on their favourite competitors.

To be sure, the local darts scene is not quite aligned with my memories of first catching the elite throwers on the globe going at it in some pub in the United Kingdom, with Wide World of Sports broadcasting it to a much different audience on this side of the pond.

That said, with a history that dates back more than sixty years, the Nickel Belt Darts League (NBDL) and the other assorted offerings for those who love to count backwards from 501 continue to enjoy a nice pocket of popularity in and around Greater Sudbury.

Truthfully, the gents that I chatted with this week have been at this for a long, long time.

“My family was always involved with darts,” said Rob Renaud, one of a couple of members of the Cousin Vinny’s Wednesday night delegation that often also partake in the Tuesday night festivities of individual play in a relaxed, enjoyable atmosphere. “My dad played and I’ve been playing since I was 18 with my dad.”

Now a touch north of his 70th birthday, Moe Renaud still throws regularly.

“He still has a pretty good shot,” acknowledged his 50 year-old offspring.

That stands to reason in the mind of the man who convenes a good number of the local tournaments, all while still getting out a couple of nights a week to flick the wrist a hundred times of more.

“The throw should feel natural,” said Chris Arsenault. “Some people try and force it, but honestly, everything should be natural. Your stance should be natural; your throw should be natural; just something comfortable.”

“You will see all kinds of different throwing styles: side-arm from the chest, guys shooting from way up above their heads.”

Wherever Moe and Rob Renaud settled in, technique-wise, it’s kept them coming back, their team sitting fourth overall in a grouping of ten squads that currently finds Onaping Legion #2 (40 pts), Trevi Bar & Grill (36) and Falconbridge Legion (36) topping the charts in the NBDL.

“Everyone has their own technique,” agreed Rob Renaud. “Some things work better for some players. And it’s one of those things where some nights you have it and some nights you don’t.”

In fact, as with most athletic undertakings that involve a degree of precision, chances are the real challenge is not the one which muscle memory has engrained. “Mental is the bigger part,” suggested Renaud. “If you have been playing darts for a while, physically, you know how to do it.”

“The mental part can be the challenge, battling through when you’re not shooting well.”

That, however, is not the only area that taps into the cranial expanse that sits just above the neck.

“When you play against the better players, you better be doing your math properly,” said Renaud, alluding to the sport in which scores work down from 501 to zero, with players required to hit with a double to end the game.

“It alll comes down to the double out at the end. If you don’t do the math properly, it might cause you to throw an extra dart – and that can be the difference between winning and losing the game.”

That same dexterity with numbers is at the core of what makes Chris Arsenault a particularly compotent organizer when it comes to the events within the dart community hosted in Greater Sudbury or elsewhere in the province.

“I’ve always been good with numbers and everything – so scheduling kind of came naturally to me,” said the man who sits as the first vice-president of the Northern Ontario Darts Association.

“When it comes to running tournaments, I am good at it; I am really good at it. It’s in my blood.”

Speaking of tournaments, Easter weekend will see the best of the dart throwers in northern Ontario will gather in Timmins for the 2025-2026 Provincials (April 3rd – 5th) with the Big Money Open set to take place at Sudbury Moose Lodge 230 on Saturday May 30th.

And of course, everyone gets behind the annual Kids with Cancer Dart Tournament fundraiser which raised $6,625 in support of the cause last November and is on the calendar again in 2026.

While he serves as a primary event organizer, Chris Arsenault acknowledged that his days of being all about the competition are somewhat behind him, that evenings like the Tuesday night gathering are at the heart of what makes darts so much fun for him.

“Tonight (Tuesday) is a drop-in night with singles play, so you will see more people having fun in a relaxed atmosphere,” he said. “But even the Nickel Belt League has been around for 60 years – and it was always a great night out with the boys.”

“I played with my brother and my dad and we would go out and have supper and play some darts. It was a night out, all about comradeship.”