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Dartboard Number Order |
Why the numbers on a dartboard are arranged the way they are is a question that is frequently asked.
The number system on the board is often credited on a Brian Gamlin, a carpenter from Bury, Lancashire, who is said to have invented it at the age of 44 in 1896 but he died in 1903 without patenting. But after extensive research viewing the English and Wales Census and contacting Bury News papers and archives no trace of Brian existence can be found. This is not to say he didn't exist, as some reports say that Brian was also attached to a travelling circus and may have missed the census at the time..
According to another source, Thomas William Buckle invented the modern dartboard in 1913. The source in question is his son, Thomas Edward Buckle who 1992 made this statement in Darts World (issue 234).
The numbering system on a standard dartboard is designed in such a way as to reduce ‘lucky shots’ and reduce the element of chance. The numbers are placed in an order to encourage accuracy and punish inaccuracy. The placing of low scoring numbers either side of large numbers e.g. 1 and 5 either side of 20, 3 and 2 either side of 17, 4 and 1 either side of 18, will punish poor throwing. If you shoot for the 20 segment, the penalty for lack of accuracy is to land in either a 1 or a 5. That is basically it.
Article produced for 'Darts World '& 'We Love Darts' Magazines by David King
Brian Gamlin is thought to have lived in Bury Lancashire during the late 19th
century and at the age of 44, produced the devious dartboard numbering system
into the fairgrounds we see today boasting ‘No skill required’. Drunks’ had no
chance, as the odd segments were a test of
sobriety, the darts game ‘round the clock’, in which players have to score with
darts in a numerical order, became a great success. However,
Gamlin remains to this day an enigma.
Darts Historian Dr Patrick Chaplin
, along with other interested historians have tried to track down birth
and death records of Brian Gamlin without successes. Dr Chaplin also has written
to many people with the surname of Gamlin in Bury,
Lancashire and Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in the hope of tracing ancestors of
Gamlin again without success. The Bury Times
newspaper featured an article on the 13th
October 2005 and a further entry on the 27th October 2005 and
this also drew a blank.
So where did the story originate?
In the newly published book ‘Darts in England 1900 – 1939: A social history Dr
Chaplin records that Dave Lanning (Sky Sports darts commentator) originally
revealed this ‘fact’ in 1979 from information he
had culled from the Daily Mirror cuttings library during his research for
his ghosted biographical work on the late Welsh darts professional Leighton
Rees. The Daily Mirror published details about Gamlin from a reader in
Germany after a reader responded to their article ‘Who decided the numbers on a
dartboard should be so jumbled and why?’
Gamlin has gone down in history based on this response and until now hasn’t been
able to traced. Gamlin was thought to be a travelling man,
very possibly a showman, and thus may never be found. Indeed this story
may live on without the ‘truth’ every being known.
But people in Bury, Lancashire may also wish to know that,
according to Dr Chaplin there are two other people who lay claim to be
the inventor of the modern dart board; the first being E. Walkers, a wire worker
from Leeds. However,
the most likely candidate is Thomas Buckle, a wire-worker from Dewsbury,
Yorkshire, who is said to have devised the board from a ‘Five board’ a
twelve-segment board which he made into a more
complex twenty-segment dartboard. Buckles’ board became known as the ‘Yorkshire
board’ and was later adapted in the south by the addition of the treble ring
to become known as the ‘London board’.
Bury’s council’s flower display ‘A tribute to Brian Gamlin’ again begs the
questions did this man ever exist? and does Bury have a claim to the invention
of the modern dartboard numbering system?”
If proof cannot be found soon that a son of Bury, Lancashire invented the modern
dartboard then the credit will likely as not go to a Yorkshireman!
Maybe this is the last time for someone shed more light on Gamlin!
