The local gay darts league, run by the Athletic Alliance of Chicago ( AAC ), kicked off its fall/winter season Oct. 17and many participants are already thinking about next summer.
That's when darts returns to the Gay Games, the quadrennial sports and cultural extravaganza that will be held next August in Cleveland. Darts was a part of the Games in 2006 here in Chicago, with more than 100 participants, but excluded from the list of sports in 2010 when the Games were held in Cologne, Germany.
The darts tournament at Gay Games 9 in Cleveland will be run by the same organizers of the AAC league.
Games organizers contacted Chicago members in 2012 and, in early 2013, it was agreed that the Chicago crew will be the darts directors in Cleveland.
"It was a good opportunity for us," said Erik Newton, who, in early 2013, moved to St. Louis after living in Chicago for years. Newton and Mike Pfeifer will run the darts in Cleveland.
Darts at the Games will be held at the host hotel, and Arachnid, based in Loves Park, Ill., has donated 25 boards for the Games, free of charge.
Darts will be played in Cleveland next Aug. 11-15. There will be singles events, doubles events ( with partner of your choice ), and on last day, a team event ( with four people per team ). There will be recreational and competitive divisions, an open format and a women's division.
"The Gay Games is such a neat event, with 10,000 of your community members, and seemingly anywhere and everywhere you go, you're meeting people involved with the Games," said Pfeifer, who has competed in the Games in Sydney and Chicago, winning a medal in 2006.
"I've very proud to be a part of the 2014 Games," Pfeifer said.
"It's definitely an honor," Newton added. "It's such a magical event."
The fall/winter AAC league features 16 teams, with eight players per team, including a team captain. The teams are sponsored by such area bars as The North End, The Closet, Crew, Cell Block, Scot's and others. The last matches of the season are scheduled for next April 3, and the annual awards banquet is April 17.
About 90 percent of the league players are male, and there also are some straight participants.
The AAC summer dart season annually runs from June through August.
Games are played Thursday nights at local bars.
"Sure, there are some competitive players, but the vast majority of players are friends who just want to go out on Thursday nights with their friends, throw darts and drink beer," Pfeifer said. "The darts league annually is a pretty cool way to meet new people, and there definitely are some colorful characters."
Relationships have developed through AAC darts, Pfeifer confirmed.
Pfeifer, 44, who lives in the Edgewater neighborhood and works as a graphic designer, is in his third year as AAC league director. He has played in the league for 10 years.
"I was at [now-closed] T's Bar & Restaurant [in Andersonville] in the early 2000s, and my neighbors were playing darts. I asked what they were doing and they said they played in a darts league. I didn't even know such a thing existed," Pfeifer said. "When I eventually joined the league, I had no idea if I'd be good or bad, and the first game I was in was at Scot's, and there were at least 12 people watching me. I had a lot of butterflies. That feeling, though, was pretty gripping and I was hooked immediately."
Pfeifer has since traveled domestically for dart tournaments, too, visiting such places as Oklahoma City, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis and elsewhere.
"There definitely are bars [in Chicago] that see the value in having dart boards, especially the sports bars," Pfeifer said. "On a Thursday night, there will be a minimum of 12 people in their bar [playing darts], plus their friends, and they will be drinking for two or three hours.
"I think the bars are really starting to realize, if they didn't already know, that this is a good thing to have."
Pfeifer said there are two or three top-tier teams locally, and then the rest of the teams which are mostly using darts as a social night out, Pfeifer said.
Last year, the league was divided into different divisions: competitive and recreational.
This season, there is only one division.
"The league has been growing over the past few seasons; we've had an influx of new players over the past few seasons, especially younger seasons," Pfeifer said. "The thing with darts is, it is something that everyone can do. There really are no physical requirements; darters come in all shapes and sizes."