IT IS perhaps the unlikeliest of government-approved pursuits.
But now darts, a game once synonymous with vice and villainy, has been earmarked to help revive Britain's ailing economy.
With numeracy levels worrying business leaders, ministers believe that mastering darts arithmetic could be the key to helping thousands secure employment in the downturn.
A new partnership has now been forged between the UK government and the British Darts Organisation which will see TV presenter Johnny Ball and the UK minister for further education, Sion Simon, talk to spectators at the World Professional Darts Championships.
The campaign has already sent darts-themed maths equipment to hundreds of colleges across the country. Advocating the game, Mr Simon said: "As well as improving your darts score, brushing up on your maths skills can help you get on in work, earn more money and help your kids with their homework.
"Around 6.8 million adults struggle with their maths skills, which is why partnerships with the BDO are so important."
In Scotland, 23 per cent of adults – around 800,000 people – have low levels of literacy and numeracy, with close to a third in possession of skills "inadequate to meet the demands of the knowledge society and the information age," according to the National Literacy Trust.
The policy represents a U-turn – unthinkable only a generation ago, when darts lumbered under an unsavoury image of often overweight men swilling beer through a fug of smoke.
Legitimacy, however, has been won in recent years. Darts was officially recognised as a sport three years ago, players no longer openly consume alcohol onstage, and the names of cigarette brands on advertising boards have vanished.
So popular is the sport, that the televised tournaments of the BDO's rival organisation, the PDC World Darts Championship, are trumped only by live English football matches on satellite.
Now, the public relations onslaught is seeking to highlight the mental agility involved in the sport – a flurry of multiple subtractions and multiplications, often carried out at a speed that would shame Carol Vorderman.
Bobby George, one of the sport's most flamboyant exponents, has been among those players involved in the scheme's promotion.
Having toured schools, he claims he has impressed upon the nation's children the complex arithmetic skills inherent to the game. As an example, he points to the fabled nine-dart finish, for which there are a possible 3,944 different permutations.
Mr George believes darts should form part of the curriculum as a teaching aid, adding it is a "great way of teaching them numbers and combinations".
Yesterday, the "Get On" campaign entered the throng of the BDO World Professional Darts Championships in Surrey.
Johnny Ball encouraged prospective players to pick up the game for themselves.
He said: "So often people don't realise how much maths is part of their day to day life, but as research shows, by brushing up on your maths, you are far more likely to hit the magic 180."
ANSWERS
1) 142: (a) Treble 20, treble 14, double 20; (b) Treble 20, treble 18, double 14; (c) Treble 20, bull, double 16
2) 127: (a) Treble 20, treble 17, double 8; (b) Treble 20, 17, bull; (c) 20, treble 19, bull
3) 111: (a) Treble 19, 14, double 20; (b) Treble 20, 19, double 16; (c) Treble 17, 20, double 20
