Women with glowing crowns or bunny ears, men with long blond hair wigs or in green dwarf dresses with pointed hats are usually most likely to be found on a Saturday evening in Frankfurt in Alt-Sachsenhausen, where they celebrate the farewell to freedom shortly before a wedding.

On this Easter weekend, however, such costumed groups gathered in droves at a different location: at the Darts Open in the ball sports hall.

Where else the Skyliners basketball players or United volleyball players hunt for points, there were now beer benches, with some of the 4,500 spectators taking a seat on the plastic seats around them.

It didn't take anything for the view.

In which zone the arrows flew could only be seen without binoculars on the large screens on the side.

Mastercaller Kirk Bevins confirmed every result and raised his voice on outstanding ones, as did famed entertainer and announcer Michael Buffer.

This drew the attention of some alcohol-weary and distracted spectators back to the game.

The sport of darts has historically been linked to the pub atmosphere, and Ballermann has been added.

Competitions, even at the highest level, are celebrated like parties with deafening sound.

Nobody here demands silence like in tennis or golf.

No autographs from "The Power"

The sympathies for this second edition of a show tournament on the Main after two cancellations due to the pandemic were clearly distributed.

Bawling fans transformed the arena into a "Taylor Wonderland".

Even after 16-time world champion Phil Taylor retired from the competition after the semi-finals, his community was still singing hymns to him.

The fact that Taylor, at 61, no longer has the strength that his nickname "The Power" bears, and that the Brit no longer hits even the smallest targeted fields on the target as reliably as he once did with his arrows, did not dampen the enthusiasm.

The former dominator left the professional business in 2018, but he has remained present.

There was something diva-like about him on the Hessian stage.

His stoic calm only came to life when he was disturbed by something before the knockout in the duel against the defending champion Mensur Suljović and complained about it several times.

Taylor had previously refused autographs that the most loyal followers tried to wrest from their stars after the individual performances.

He usually sells such at other invitation events of this kind together with a photo for 20 or more euros, which was apparently not planned in Frankfurt.

Another player proved more generous: Australian Simon Whitlock couldn't get enough of handing out his signature.

The stewards almost had to pull him off the ramp.

"The Wizard", as the fans call Simon Whitlock, was able to take revenge for the shame three years ago, when the 1.90 meter tall and 100 kilogram giant with the reddish beard and long braid lost the final against the Austrian Suljović , apparently hardly wait.

Sympathies for the local hero

In the world rankings, Whitlock and Suljović are very close at 24th and 27th.

They did not qualify for the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich, which was held parallel to the tournament in Frankfurt.

But they brought fast, entertaining games to the fans in Frankfurt, and fifty-three-year-old Whitlock proved his goodness on his very first throw: 180 is the magic number in darts.

More points cannot be achieved with the three arrows that everyone has per round.

Each game starts at 501. Then the scores are subtracted until one of the opponents reaches zero.

For professionals, such a “leg” only takes a few minutes.

The first duel of the evening dragged on much longer: Two wildcard candidates were included officially to involve the region, but probably more to fill up the field, which was only equipped with five professionals.

But there would also have been a local hero: Frankfurter Fabian Schmutzler qualified in 2021 at the age of 16 as the second youngest player in history for the World Cup in the famous Alexandra Palace in London.

In his Frankfurt homeland, the former Eintracht member was greeted with "We are all Frankfurt boys".

However, Schmutzler, called "The Fabulous Fab", missed the final, in which Suljović triumphed again.

"At least I can say that I lost to the eventual winner in the semifinals," said Schmutzler afterwards.

Rabbits and dwarves cheered him with glazed eyes.