This is just a curiosity thing on my part I’m hoping someone can help me with. We’ve noticed at every bar we’ve been to in Michigan that they all have real dart boards with metal tip darts and chalkboards to keep score. I’ve never seen that before. In Illinois, all the bars have those big machines where you put a couple bucks in and the machine keeps track of your score for you….and you use the bars’ plastic darts.
So here are my questions….
- Is there a reason that I never see those soft tipped dart machines in Michigan?
- Do you have to bring your own darts to the bar?
Really, I like the metal darts better…it’s just not something I’ve seen before.
Mid-Michigan Dining 
1. Michigan bars haven’t been sued enough yet…
2. Most Michigan bars provide darts so as to encourage people to leave their metal lawn Jarts at home…
I think the biggest reason is just that plastic darts suck.
I totally agree that the plastic darts suck, but I was actually thinking along the lines of what Corky said….seems kind of dangerous when you mix alcohol and metal darts in a public place.
I would much rather use the metal ones.
Soft tip dart machines were a hard product to sell to bar owners when they first came into being. Bars were happy with steel tip, and players were happy with steel tip, besides the new soft-tip machines had a lot of problems. Then two things happened in the mid to late 1990’s (particularly in Southern California, but in general most places in the USA).
1) Property values went up, and pub owners who rented saw rents go up. Bar owners who owned their own properties saw a great opportunity to cash out to a profit, and sold their businesses. Much like bar owners that rented new owners need more cash to pay the bills. So why not monetize that space where the Steel tip boards hang with COIN FEED soft tip machines? The steel tip players protested, but in most cases to no effect.
2) The soft-tip vendors and manufactures saw their chance, and started the rumor about insurance rates increases for bar operators that had steel tip boards in their bars.
That was all it took! Soft tip machines pushed steel tip boards out of several bars. However in a few bars in several areas held out against the trend, and kept the steel darts with no more than normal insurance rate increases. More on this topic at:
Real Reasons for Lack of Steel Tip Darts in a Region/Area?
What’s the Truth?
Threads at sewa-darts.com
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darttalker”at”yahoo.com
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Soft tip darts are not real popular as I have seen. Jackson and Michigan center has them in some bars (PNA – Barbs – Raks) are a few. The bars with steel in Lansing where I play, some have darts you can use but better to bring your own.