05/15/2026
Hey all, as you might have seen, the dart boards were removed. Everyone who uses them regularly was informed of this decision in person, but for those of you who maybe come in occasionally and play, wanted to go over in a post.
The dart boards here were NOT a part of the original business plan here. The original plan was to have skeeball and pinball. Don't need to go over that, but the pinball was removed before we opened and skeeball was removed last year.
One of the guys from Shaffer entertainment suggested bringing in dart boards as one of their best machines to make money. He had a different idea for them. He thought that they should go where the pop machine is so that people would see them. The problem is that would cut into too much seating and with employees walking/ carrying food in a rush, not practical. Probably would have been better for the dart boards, but not for the business as a whole. So we stuck them in a room.
One issue is that, since opening, the dart room clearly says "Children under the age of 12 must be supervised by an adult." Nobody listens to that. There have been MULTIPLE times when I've looked on the cameras and have seen kids under the age of 12 throwing darts at each other. Hiding behind the board and playing dodge-dart.
What do you do in that case? Every time it's kind of awkward telling them to stop/not wanting to scare them from coming back, or having the discussion with parents. We are a family friendly establishment, but never intended for the dart room to be a free-for-all and that's what it has turned into. There's still a pacman game in the main room along with a bunch of toys, and we will be adding several new claw machines to that room that kids will be able to enjoy!
Another issue is that basically nobody has paid to use the dart boards. Almost every time they're in use, people (mostly adults) are just throwing them at the board. Now, I know a lot of people reading this probably did pay, but most people did not.
"Can't you just keep the darts behind the bar and only let people who pay use them?" That was the original idea, but after 3 years it just hasn't ever worked that way.
We want everyone here to have a good experience, maintaining our family-friendly atmosphere, and I think the claw machines will provide that best.
