To fully appreciate the bar experience, and to take from it everything it has to offer a man must know a few things; one of the most important is how to play darts. It’s a very simple game, and it’s all about numbers. It consists of a board 18 inches in diameter divided into 20 sections hung on the wall with the bulls-eye 5 feet 8 inches off the ground which players throw three darts at from a distance of 7 feet 9.25 inches. Don’t let the numbers scare you, it really is easy.

You can make darts a lot more complicated by buying your own. You can change the grip, weight and shape of the tale, better known as flights, to change the way your dart flies through the air; perfectly matching its trajectory with your throw. Or you can borrow the busted bar darts and let everyone play with the same handicap. I suggest the bar darts, if nothing else it brings people together because you can all complain about the same problems.

I was introduced to darts less than a year ago, so I’m not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I can honestly say that I’d rather play darts than any other game at the bar. Golden Tee and Silver Strike aren’t appealing because they just make me want to actually go golfing or bowling, and I’ve played pool to death. Darts hasn’t gotten old yet; there are too many different games to play.

Even though there are dozens of games and hundreds of variations of darts only a few are absolutely essential. With the creation of the electronic dartboard players don’t even need to know the rules or how to score games to play them anymore, the board does everything for you, but in my opinion these boards have bastardized the game and detract from the grace and elegance that is darts.

Electronic boards are all too often made entirely of plastic, the darts are light and easily broken, and the board can be very moody. Do yourself a favor and find a bar that has good, old fashioned metal tipped darts and a chalkboard to keep score. In most places with real darts you won’t have to pay to play, unless you break something. You always need quarters for an electronic board.

The two most popular games, in my experience, are countdown and cricket. Countdown is a very simple game in which you start with a number, the most common being 301 or 501, and count down to zero from it.

You add up your three darts each turn and subtract them from the total; you do this until you get to zero. The game doesn’t get tricky until the end; you can’t get less than zero, you have to get it exactly. So if you have three left, you must get a three, or a two and a one, or a triple one to end the game. Simple. There are different variations; rules that require the game end in a specific way; but the same basic rules always apply. If you can play one you can play them all.

The second game you must know how to play is cricket. This one is a bit trickier than countdown, but it’s also more fun. You need a little more skill; not every number on the board counts in this one; and it doesn’t hurt to play with teams. The goal of cricket is to hit each of the numbers 15 through 20 and the bullseye three times. The first player, or team, to do so wins.

Doubles count as hitting the number two times and triples count for three. Once you’ve hit a number three times you have “closed out” said number, and you can move on to the next. There are also a couple of scoring options, but they’re not entirely necessary. No matter how you score the game, points punish teams for not closing out numbers fast enough.

With these two, simple games you can provide yourself with hours of entertainment. The best part is, anyone can be good at darts—even women can throw a dart all night without getting tired. Short or tall, athletic or not, all you need is a decent amount of hand-eye coordination and a couple of friends. Even I can rustle up a few friends.