Daryl Gurney at THROWDOWN: the night the jackpot rolled to £501

Halloween at The Copthorne, Merry Hill. A sold-out room, a stage bathed in red, and Daryl 'Superchin' Gurney - two-time major winner, World Cup winner with Northern Ireland - standing at the oche while Dracula, Darth Vader and an inflatable alien queued up to take him on. That's a THROWDOWN night.

The 361 that topped the leaderboard

All night, our rolling nine dart challenge gave everyone in the room a shot at the jackpot. A young lad called Lucas - 'Cobra' to the room by the end of the night - put up an incredible 361 to top the leaderboard and have the whole place believing. Then Superchin himself stepped up and saw him off on the big stage. Brutal. Brilliant. And it means the pot rolls again: because this is darts, it had to be £501, on the line at the Christmas Party on 6 December.

Superchin held court

Between games Daryl was on the mic, telling stories from the World Cup and giving every challenger the full walk-on treatment. This is what we mean when we say you get close to the players at THROWDOWN - no barriers, no distant arena seats, just a world-class pro a few feet away.

Halloween did the rest

The fancy dress brief was simple: come as anything. The room delivered. Dracula got the biggest walk-on roar of the night, Darth Vader stalked the crowd, and somewhere in there an inflatable alien threw a very respectable leg.

Next: two legends, one night, and £501 waiting

The Christmas Party is Sunday 6 December at The Copthorne, Merry Hill - and it's now a double bill: Adrian 'Jackpot' Lewis and Terry 'The Bull' Jenkins on the same stage. The nine dart challenge jackpot stands at £501, and after four events without a winner, somebody's Christmas is about to get very merry.

Get Christmas Party tickets - VIP is on a re-released final allocation, under-14 tickets from £17.87, and Jackpot's 2027 shirt and Showdown darts are on click & collect for the night.

Photos by Dan Senior.