Settling Nerves

To build your child’s speed in mental manipulation you need to install a family darts board. When you are playing darts you will sometimes need a certain number of points to be able to complete the game. (And you do want your child to learn to be a winner.)

I am not a darts player at all – but it the scoring was recently explained to me by an enthusiastic ten year old.

A dart board has twenty sectors numbered from 1 to 20. The board has doubles, trebles, an outer ring and a bulls-eye. The bull-eye scores 50 points and the outer ring 25 points. The double is twice the score of the sector it is in and the treble is three times the score.

A double sixteen would score 32 points and a treble sixteen 48 points.

So if you need a two to finish a game you need to throw a double one.

If you have three darts then you have three chances of finishing the game. Likewise two darts gives you two chances.

So to get 19 you need to throw a three and a double eight.

To get 51 you need an eleven and a double twenty.

To get 52 you need sixteen and double eighteen.

If however you need 58 and you only have two darts you need a treble fourteen and a double eight.

So the next time your ten year old hounds you for a dart board think of the value of the game. We will take one more example. To reach 70 you need to throw a twenty then a double 25 (the outer ring). You can also throw seventy with triple eighteen and double eight.

Quick manipulation of numbers would be invaluable eleven plus preparation. Learning to concentrate would also help.

A final word of warning for parents. Traditionally, I understand, darts players often have two or three beers before they start playing to `settle their nerves’. You would become a questionable role model for your children if you had two or three beers before you start on an eleven plus paper to `settle your nerves’.