Quest to find best pub darts player in Wales and the borders
The Coinspinner and Red Dragon Darts Pub Champion of Champions competition, which has a prize fund of £4,000, is free to enter and is open to all male and female darts players over the age of 14 years.
The competition is the brainchild of Bridgend-based darts specialist Red Dragon Darts and Coinspinner, a Wales-based international company that specialises in supplying pay-to-play entertainment equipment to pubs and members clubs.
The companies are inviting 128 pubs and member clubs to take part in the inaugural competition, which will see players compete in the best of three, 501 legs. The winner from each pub or club will qualify for the Champion of Champion Grand Final at The Hi-Tide, Porthcawl on Sunday, August 31.
A prize fund will be divided between the final 32 players, with the winner collecting £1,500. All the competing pubs and clubs and qualifying dates are listed on Red Dragon Darts’ website and the closing date for entries is July 31.
Red Dragon Darts is providing a competition pack, which includes a dart board and other items, to each of the 128 venues.
"Our aim is to create a free event for recreational darts players, rather than professionals, that will be as exciting as the unrivalled former News of the World tournament was between the 1930s and ‘90s and encourage players over the age 14 to take part in their local pub or club,” explained Simon Hall, head of marketing at Red Dragon Darts.
"With the same three leg, 501 straight start shoot out format from the first round all the way through to the Grand Final at The Hi-Tide Porthcawl, it’s a format pub players love and the professionals hate.
"Great players will be eliminated by unfancied opponents before they even have a chance to warm up. The format is tried and tested and we expect around half of the players who enter the competition will have played in the News of the World tournament.
"It’s open to everyone and all players need to do is enter their name at one of the 128 pubs and clubs that have signed up for the competition. There has been such a tremendous response from pubs and clubs wishing to take part that we plan to expand the competition UK-wide next year.
"Hopefully more than 3,000 players will take part this year with a chance of winning the £1,500 prize and being named Champion of Champions. If a player doesn’t win at their local pub or club, there’s nothing to stop him and her entering a qualifying competition at another of the venues, which will be good news for licensees.
"Players will be able follow the competition’s progress via our website and social media as momentum builds during the summer up to the final.”
Lee Hammond, Coinspinner’s operations manager, said the competition was intended to generate new business for the 128 pubs and clubs involved whilst also promoting the products and brands of both organising companies.
"We are increasing our customer base and presence across Wales and the borders and an important part of the company’s ethos is reinvesting in the communities that we serve to support pubs, sporting clubs and the leisure industry,” he added.
With offices across the UK and Europe, including a Mid Wales hub in Talgarth, Coinspinner - www.coinspinner.co.uk - specialises in supplying gaming and skill with prizes machines, jukeboxes, table play and video games, boxing machines to the pubs and members clubs.