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May 1, 1996
Column 11
Johannesburg, South Africa
Over the past week I have experienced some of the best Southern Africa has to offer. I have followed elephant families in South Africa’s Addo National Park, drifted in mekoro deep into Botswana’s Okavango swamps and even white-water rafted the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe — but all I have been able to find in the “darts department” is an electronic board in a bar in Johannesburg. And it sucked big time!
When it comes to darts I have but a few principles:
– I throw only my darts (Hammerhead GT’s — 24 grams)
– I drink only when I’m finished throwing; and
– I never, ever, throw anything but steel tip darts.
In Johannesburg I broke all my rules. Usually I only break the second one.
Just west of the city in a town called Randburg is a little Irish pub called McGinty’s (Republic Road — on the waterfront). After scouring the city of Johannesburg for a place — any place — with a legitimate dart set up I gave up and headed here.
What I found was an electronic dart board with a broken light and a broken scoreboard. I was given a set of soft tip bar darts with mangled tips. If this wasn’t all bad enough the machine ate two rand coins and required four rand for a game, which at the current exchange is more than a dollar.
So, I tossed a few of my crooked darts. I watched most of them come flying back at me. I ordered the recommended local brew (Castle Draft) which arrived twenty minutes later and tasted like peanuts.
Suffice it to say I left McGinty’s a half hour after walking in the door.
From the Field,
Dartoid
