Lawn darts

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Safety warning

Lawn darts (also called Jarts or yard darts) is a lawn game for two players or teams. A lawn dart set usually includes four large darts and two targets. The game play and objective are similar to both Horseshoes and Darts. The darts are similar to the ancient Roman plumbata; they are typically 12 inches long with a weighted metal or plastic tip on one end and three plastic fins on a rod at the other end. The darts are intended to be tossed underhand toward a horizontal ground target, where the weighted end hits first and sticks in to the ground. The target is typically a plastic ring, and landing anywhere within the ring is considered a point.

1 Banned from sale in the United States
2 Similar games
3 Other uses of the term
4 References

[edit] Banned from sale in the United States

While the tip may not be sharp enough to be obviously dangerous, when misused, these darts can cause skull punctures and other serious injuries.

On December 19, 1988, all lawn darts were banned from sale in the United States by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Lawn darts, used in an outdoor game, have been responsible for the deaths of four children, the latest being in early 1997 near Elkhart, Indiana.

Lawn darts remain legal for use in the United Kingdom as well as other countries.

[edit] Similar games

Stake invloves tossing a metal spike into the air with the objective of sticking it into the ground.

Crown darts is a variation using the same equipment in which the darts are tossed towards a target dart instead of a plastic ring target.

Kubb is a similar throwing game involving wooden batons instead of darts.

[edit] Other uses of the term

The term 'lawn dart' has entered the hobby of model rocketry as the popular term for a failed parachute recovery, where the intact but now-unpowered rocket turns over in flight and falls vertically before spiking itself into the ground.

This term has also been used less commonly to describe aircraft crashes. The F-104 Starfighter was most often described thus, owing to its dart-like shape and high accident record.