During COVID-19, researchers seized the opportunity to study the impact of different audience conditions – no audience, simulated audience, and live audience – on professional darts performance [6,7]. One of the most important performance measures is the checkout percentage, which indicates what percentage of darts you successfully throw at a double field (the outer red/green ring) in order to win a “leg” (one game of going from 501 to 0). One study found no clear effect of audience presence on checkout percentage [6], while another observed a slight trend: Checkout percentages were lowest with a live audience and highest with no audience [7]. However, these effects were small, and player performance varied significantly even within the same setting, suggesting individual differences played a large role. A theory that emerged suggests that less experienced players struggle more under match-winning pressure when aiming for the more challenging double fields in order to win, while they perform relatively well with standard shots like hitting the triple 20 (this field gives you the highest possible number on a dartboard which is why it is most frequently aimed for) [6,8]. In contrast, experienced players are more accustomed to the match-winning pressure. Still they may find unusual circumstances unsettling such as playing without any audience presence. Even Gerwyn Price, who in contrast enjoyed one of his best seasons during the pandemic and later used ear defenders to block out crowd noise, shows no long-term decline from audience hostility [9]. This indicates that, while audience dynamics can influence performance in the moment, their long-term effects are less conclusive.