NDAs 2016 Team Dart Draws 2300 Players US Men Win International Soft-Tip Competition

LAS VEGAS -- The National Dart Association said its 31st annual Team Dart competition attracted more than 2,300 players from four countries. Some 1,000 individual players in several skill levels earned payouts at this year's electronic soft-tip darting tournament, which took place April 22-27 in Las Vegas.

Team Dart is held annually at Bally's, right in the center of the Las Vegas strip. It is one of the largest coin-op game competitions in the world, featuring more than 300 electronic dartboards spread across 85,000 square feet of tournament space.

NDA reported an increase in operator participation, with 132 NDA-chartered vending operations sending players to the event. To qualify for Team Dart, players must be sanctioned by NDA and participate in 96 or more league games organized by NDA operators. The player requirement, the association explained, is an important incentive to increase local league play for NDA operator members. Indianapolis-based NDA has 255 operator members who represent some 45,000 players worldwide.

The International Challenge at this year's Team Dart hosted teams from Canada, Germany and the United States. They competed on April 27 to win, among other things, "international bragging rights" for the coming year. The U.S. men's team took first place in a dart battle against Germany's best coin-op athletes. The German women's team, however, triumphed over the American ladies, who had won the title last year.

NDA's Top Gun awards went to the best shooters in eight levels of Team Cricket and Team 501, with a minimum of 24 games played during the tournament. Fourteen players took home the honor, including masters Ben Dersch, entered by Sam's Amusement Co. (Kenosha, WI), and Jeremiah Millar, sponsored by Gametime Entertainment (Fishers, IN).

This year's Team Dart took place over six days,thankfully shorter than the 10-day-long events in recent years.

NDA president Mary Lavine, owner of Bullseye Games (Madison, WI), presided over this year's Team Dart games and ceremonies. During the president's reception, the association inducted Larry McEntire of Bullhead Billiard and Darts (Bullhead City, AZ) and Stefan Reichart, president of Deutscher Sport Automatenbund (DSAB-e.v.) in Waldalgesheim, Germany, into the NDA Hall of Fame. "Their contributions to the NDA are invaluable and deserve to be recognized in a permanent manner," Lavine said.

Lavine also recognized Team Dart's sponsors, who included dartboard manufacturers Arachnid Inc., Cyberdine d.o.o., Gaelco Darts S.L. and NSM-Löwen Entertainment. They supplied the 312 dartboards for this year's tournament. The Amusement and Music Operators Association is another major NDA and Team Dart sponsor.

McENTIRE DISTINCTION:NDA president Mary Lavine presents Hall of Fame award to Larry McEntire, Bullhead Billiard and Darts (Bullhead City, AZ), during Team Dart's induction ceremony. Hall of Fame nominees are selected for their abilities in tournament development and awareness building, among other criteria. McEntire is an NDA past-president.

REICHART RECOGNITION:NDA president Mary Lavine bestows Hall of Fame honor on Stefan Reichart, DSAB-e.v. (Waldalgesheim, Germany). Hall of Fame candidates are evaluated on their levels of contributions -- locally, nationally and internationally -- to the sport of electronic darting. Reichert is a 25-year coin-op veteran who has served on the boards of both NDA and the Valley National 8-Ball League Association (VNEA).