My latest convert to darts enlightenment, Jan Ratte, has been hard at work tracking down steel-tip darts locations in the largely heretical soft-tip nation of Germany. He excelled himself, picking out several promising looking classic Berlin pubs that also had at least one board. My appetite for eckkneipe darts had been whetted by a DVD of Heiko’s Welt dropped off on his last visit to Bristol. By the time I got to Berlin, about a month later I was gagging for a Schultheiss and a throw. Our first darts stop was MASH, where both cravings were fulfilled. They also had Nordberliner Helles on tap, from a small Berlin brewery that has close ties with the film. There was also a signed poster next to the dartboard. Clearly they are big fans too.

Mash is a small pub, with a smoky bar at the front and a small room at the back. Fortunately the back room wasn’t smoky, but probably because we were the only two in there and we don’t smoke. The board is the ever reliable Winmau Blade 6, in excellent condition. It had not been rotated, but the treble twenty bed was showing no signs of heavy use. This is possibly because it’s only used occasionally, with the two soft-tip machines in the room being used much more frequently. All of my knowledge of the Berlin darts scene comes from the film Heiko’s Welt, where the steel-tip board is only used for the final of the showdown competition at the climax of the film. I’ll take that as gospel.

The oche left a little to be desired. On arrival it was blocked by a table, reinforcing the impression that soft-tip darts are the priority, with their own dedicated space. However, the barwoman was happy for us to play and gave us a hand moving the table and chairs out of the way. She even admonished me for shifting the table back into position when we finished playing. It later transpired it was her first shift there, I suspect we were lucky not to be told to jog on. The line itself was clear, if a little worn. I didn’t have my measuring string on me to check the length, but it seemed about right. From all of the darts memorabilia on the walls I suspect whoever set it up knew what they were doing.

The only missing element was a method of scoring. Fortunately, we had the latest version of the soon to be patented™ Orange Lad darts app to test, which was a huge success. I suspect the over-reliance on electronic machines to play darts has all but killed the art of scoring on a chalkboard. In the wide picture below you can see a nifty stand, possibly for an iPad to display scores on the telly to the top left of the board. This could imply it’s only used on special occasions, or they only play non-scoring games like round the clock.

We had a great time in MASH. It was exactly what I had been hankering after post Heiko’s Welt. Even the faint wafts of cigarette smoke drifting in from the front room added to the atmosphere instead of being nauseating. We only managed one other darts spot in Berlin, Ray’s Dartclub, which was a very mixed experience. However, I didn’t document it, so it will have to wait for a re-visit next trip. The good news is I managed to smuggle a set of darts across Germany on the European Sleeper, left in a safe pair of hands in Berlin establish a permanent steel-tip base for future tours.