photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Members of the Free State Dart League competing in matches during the end of the season tournament on April 28, 2026 at Empire Barcade, 925 Iowa St.

Since moving to Lawrence around three years ago, Shylo Evans said he was missing a pastime from his home state of South Dakota — darts.

Evans said the sport is huge in the state, with “hundreds and hundreds” of players participating in leagues during the frigid winters there. To get his fix, Evans explored options in Topeka and Kansas City before working to start something in Lawrence. In 2025, he created the Free State Darts League, and it’s had three seasons of competition since then.

In the most recent season, which concluded last week, Evans said there were around 60 players participating, with all levels of darts experience. During the end-of-season tournament and celebration on Tuesday, Empire Pubcade on Iowa Street was filled with classic rock, fist bumps and friendly banter from college students and retirees alike.

As the league has grown, Evans said the sense of community has, too. “It’s just been a good thing for the community to go out and meet people of different ages and different backgrounds,” Evans said.

Evans believes one reason the league started to grow was its price. As he was exploring other leagues in different cities, he found they would sometimes charge $10 per person per game, which could cost around “$120 to $150” per player for a season. The cost per player for a full season at Free State is $30, Evans said. About $5 of the fee pays for the digital platform used to keep scores and statistics; the rest goes to “random stuff,” he said, including plaques and trophies for award winners at the end of the season.

“I’m trying to cultivate a community here; I’m not doing it for a profit,” Evans said.

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Shylo Evans, right, handing an award to the top performer in the Free State Dart League’s A Division. Evans founded the dart league in 2025, and he said it has blossomed into a great community.

With the league’s growth, Evans said this season was the first time he could have two divisions based on skill level. The A Division is for the more skilled players and is larger than the B Division. A Division played all of its matches at Empire Pubcade because it had a bigger space; B Division played at a variety of bars across Lawrence. Evans said next season, he plans to move around the matches for both leagues because the players “don’t always want to play at one spot.”

Tuesday night’s end-of-year tournament brought together every league member to celebrate the end of the season. Among the participants were Chuck Ewy and Charlie Ballenger, who competed in the B Division with the team name “2 Much Trouble.” They said it was their first time playing in a darts league.

Ewy said the competitors’ different levels of experience have made the competition “fun and challenging.” He said his prior darts experience was mostly playing in his basement, so he joined the league to “throw darts and meet people” while getting out of the house.

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Charlie Ballenger and Chuck Ewy enjoying the Free State Dart League’s end of season tournament on April 28, 2026.

Ballenger said participating in the matches “scratches his competitive itch.” He said he recently had a hip replacement, which limited his mobility, but in darts the only walking you have to do is 8 feet to the board to collect the darts after you throw them.

“You don’t have to be an athlete to play,” Ballenger said, even if they sometimes “talk a little smack” like athletes might.

Other players have competed in dart leagues for years. Laura Talley and Yvonne Channel said they have played for over 20 years; “we should be better,” Talley joked. The two had competed in a league before, but that league ended during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been with Free State Darts League from the start.

Darts is normally a very male-dominated activity, and the two women said they are almost always the only female competitors, but they still “feel welcomed” in the league.

On Tuesday night, they were playing against a team of college students. Although the retirees said there was a good bit of trash talking, all four competitors would fist bump each other after good shots. Channel said that it’s “a nice feeling” when the younger players say how much fun they had competing with them, and Talley said that’s normally how it goes.

“Darts people encourage and support each other,” Talley said.

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Laura Talley, left, and Yvonne Channel have competed in darts leagues in Lawrence for years.

Evans said bringing together all different ages and skill levels was always a goal of the league, but it really struck him how important it was after hearing some of the older players’ opinions. A retired couple who play together told him him competing in darts was “one of the few times in their lives” when younger people saw them as competitors or friends.

“(They said) ‘We’re playing 21-year-old kids and they don’t treat us like we’re old people on the other side of the bar,'” Evans recalled. “That’s when I thought, ‘Wow, this really means something to them.'”

Evans has also seen people who participated reluctantly at first — such as people whose friends dragged them along to a game — and then suddenly got hooked. He said some league members “never had intentions” to join the league and were just tagging along with one of the players, but weeks later those people were texting him asking about how to practice darts.

Evans said the league has also brought “out-of-towners” to Lawrence. David Kingston lives in Overland Park, but his friend Ed Foley invited him to play in the league. His response was: “Hell yeah.”

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

A dart flying in the air after being tossed by a Free State Dart League player.

Kingston went to KU graduate school and knows Lawrence well, so he was excited to be part of a group that met regularly in Lawrence. His son Owen is a sophomore at KU, and though Owen hasn’t participated in the league, all the competitors are friendly and they’ll chat with him in between rounds. The darts league has become a regular chance for the Kingstons to get dinner and spend time together, and David said it’s well worth the 40-minute drive.

“It’s a good time,” he said.

Evans is proud to see all these different types of players — retirees, college students, out-of-towners, veterans, newbies — coming together. The league has built friendships with people “they might have never even talked to or met” otherwise, he said.

It’s also been a chance for some players to escape from the stresses in their lives.

Evans recalled a college student who was studying for law school and was talked into joining the league. A few weeks later, this student said darts had helped a lot with his mental health. He was sometimes in a “dark, depressed place,” but being around people for even a couple of hours “really changed a lot,” Evans said the student told him.

In building a community where a lot of different people can have fun and support each other, Evans said, the Free State Darts League has hit the bullseye.

“I can’t stress enough how cool of a community it is,” Evans said. “It feels really good to bring people into this.”

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Trophies, plaques and medals on display during the Free State Dart League’s end of the season tournament.

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Dozens of competitors in the Free State Dart League talking and competing during the end of the season tournament on April 28, 2026.