FROM THE BAR TO GLORY: THE DARTS CRAZE | M6 | 66 minutes

They’re between 18 and 35 years old, and every Friday and Saturday night, they gather to “hit the bullseye” — armed with small darts and electronic targets.
Three throws from a distance of 2.37 meters to go from 501 (or 301) down to zero.
After pinball, pool, and bowling, darts have become the new favorite bar game.
In England, it’s a true cultural phenomenon — and now, the craze is spreading to France.
Across the country, new venues are opening: Les Petites Flèches or Le Split in Paris, Helter Skelter in Lille, Le Circus in Bordeaux — the dartboards are lighting up everywhere.
Thibault Tricole, 30, with his soft belly and easygoing smile, doesn’t exactly look like your typical athlete. Yet he’s the real deal. In the darts world, he’s known as “The French Touch.”
He’s the only French professional player in the ultra-competitive PDC — the Professional Darts Corporation, the sport’s equivalent of the Champions League.
If he breaks into the top ten, Thibault could earn between €200,000 and €700,000 a year.
He can count on the support of his girlfriend, Marie — whom he met, fittingly, during a game of darts — and his parents, who back his unconventional career.
In Budapest, Hungary, in front of 8,000 roaring fans, Thibault — the rising French underdog — is about to face the world’s best:
the Dutch precision machine “Mighty Mike”;
the teenage prodigy Luke Littler, who seemed to throw darts before he could walk;
and the man to beat, world number one Luke Humphries, nicknamed “Cool Hand Luke.”
Steel nerves. Laser focus.
Can the young Breton prove he’s got what it takes to make his mark among the world’s darting elite ?