Popdarts Is Trying to Become the Next Big Bar Game

Thor is amazing at niche games.

Darts, cornhole, billiards, disc golf, bowling, beer pong: You do not want to go up against this 43-year-old Oregon City dad. Thor used to arm wrestle semiprofessionally and now manages all five Portland-area locations of Celtic Axe Throwing.

So when he saw a new bar game from the East Coast called Popdarts build some buzz online, he bought a set.

“It’s my type of thing,” says Thor, whose given name is David Tate, though, at 6-foot-3, his superhero nickname seems to fit him exactly, in body and spirit.

Popdarts are silicone darts with suction cups on the end. Players stand at least 10 feet away from a smooth, flat surface—like a countertop, tabletop or, in a pinch, the hood of a car—and try to aim at a smaller, stubbier Popdart that serves as the target. They land with a satisfying “pop,” thus the name. The person who gets the most darts closest to the target wins, sort of like in bocce. There’s even a special measuring tool made out of wire to figure out which Popdart is closest and gets the most points, stopping bar fights before they start.

“Simplicity” is key, Thor says. “Make your throw as simple as possible so you can replicate the same throw over and over again.”

Two South Carolina brothers invented Popdarts during COVID quarantine in 2020, and it went viral on TikTok. A set of darts retails for $40. The game got a hit of visibility earlier this month when American Popdarts League tournaments aired for the second summer in a row on ESPN8 The Ocho (a bit from the 2004 film Dodgeball that became a real channel for obscure sports).

Thor has seen a bar game from its infancy through its boom years before. He helped set up Celtic Axe Throwing’s first location, at the former Laurelwood Brewing on Northeast Sandy Boulevard, just as the sport was exploding in 2019. Now he’s working with the city’s premier league, the Rose City Popdarts Club, to spread the word about this new game and try to establish it as the next big thing you can play while holding a pint and half-dancing to bar music.

The game is still trying to find its Portland audience, though you wouldn’t know it if you happened into Midway Sports & Billiards in Oregon City on a Tuesday at 7 pm. That’s when dozens of Popdarts players arrive for weekly play with the Rose City Popdarts Club.

At the Aug. 4 tournament, it’s almost all men, though one woman, nicknamed the “Queen of Pop,” and Thor’s 13-year-old son, Max, both hold their own, making it to the semifinals and finals, respectively. (There is precedent for kids dominating at the game; the reigning Popdarts national champion is 14.)

Play is free—though a whiteboard shows standings for the players who put in $20 for a little action—and attracts all kinds.

“We have some people that are millionaires, we have some people who don’t even have a job, and they all get together and nothing matters but the darts,” says club president and founder Chris Wilson.

All RCPC regulars have a dart name. Besides Thor and the Queen of Pop, there’s BraveDart, Ol’ Darty Bastard, Dart Nasty, Joe Dart, Cold Darted, Melatonin (“because he’ll put you to sleep,” says another player). And while there may be millionaires among the regulars, most interviewed were more blue collar: diesel mechanic, construction, ex-military.

The leader of the group is Chris “Darty McFly” Wilson, 48, who tonight is wearing the club’s official jersey, printed with the PDX airport carpet design, while serving as DJ and emcee. Wilson picked up his first Popdart seven months ago, and says he was drawn to the game because it’s “easy to learn but hard to master.”

The room erupts in cheers the few times a player hits a “T-nobber,” landing right on top of the center target. The move is worth 10 points and bragging rights for the rest of the night. T-nobbers also win the attention of nonplaying drinkers at the front of Midway pub, who might get curious and come throw a few Popdarts at the practice table set up for newbies.

Wilson freely admits the practice table is a trap for potential converts. “It’s hard to get more players because nobody knows what it is,” he says. But he’s working hard to change that.

His main marketing tactics, so far, are word of mouth, Facebook and posting to dating sites and singles groups. Midway also sometimes runs food and drink specials for new Popdarts players. Some combination of the above is finding traction. Six months ago, Wilson says only eight players might show up on a given night; a recent tournament drew 25 plus spectators (many of whom were eating dinner or at least drinking something, a coup for the bar every Tuesday night).

Wilson has not had much luck reaching out to other bar game groups, who tend to be protective of maintaining their own memberships. The chilly reception took him a bit by surprise.

“You’d think I could go after cornhole players or dart players or pool players and say, ‘Hey, try this as well,’ but it doesn’t work that way,” Wilson says. “It’s almost like you’re chastised if you leave your pool league to go do something that’s different.”

At tonight’s tournament, which Darty McFly ends up winning, he and Thor brainstorm about setting up games near Portland Trail Blazers or Pickles games, or even on the downtown waterfront. Thor’s gotten people to play on the windshield of his truck during lulls in Max’s basketball tournaments. Max started a Popdarts club at his middle school.

But bar trends come and go. As the regional manager of Celtic Axe Throwing, Thor has a close eye on his company’s competition from activities like pickleball and rage rooms, where people pay to smash breakable objects safely and have someone else clean up the mess. “We’re always trying to find that next niche,” he says.

So maybe it will be Popdarts, or maybe that trend will only ever hit the East Coast and Midwest and never make it out to the Pacific Northwest. Another thing that ax throwing and Popdarts have in common? Beer helps.

“One hundred and ten percent,” Thor says. “I’m better on two than zero. It allows you to relax and just throw without being stressed about it. But three or four drinks and you go down steep and quick and it’s hard to recover.”

PLAY: Rose City Popdarts Club at Midway Sports & Billiards, 1003 7th St., Oregon City, 503-656-9501, facebook.com/p/Rose-City-Popdarts-Club-61583647646900. 7 pm Tuesdays. Free.