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Can one play darts on shabbat?

And can one then do archery on shabbat, assuming there are no words or numbers on the target, and the bows remain strung throughout shabbat?

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Rabbi Dovid Ribiat in his Sefer Lamed Tet Melachot - The 39 Melachot Vol. 3 Section 3/E)/h (pg. 822 in Melacha 23, Tofair) states:

"One may not stick push pins into a bulletin board whether to hang notes or for any other purpose, because of questions involving Tofair, Boneh and other Shabbos restrictions."

[emphasis mine]

He bases this on a number of sources, one of which is the Biyur Halacha 340:14 DH:"Harei Zeh".

Based on this, it seems clear cut to me that darts or archery (which may also be forbidden because of hotzoah issues) would be forbidden on Shabbat or Yom Tov. As always, consult with your local Halchic authority.

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  • Note that even Rabbi Ribiat would agree this is where your arrows/darts piece the target. Magnetic darts or firing a bow and arrow at say a hole or a hard target which the arrows bounce off of would still be allowed. And the hotzoah/carrying is obvious. We could be dealing with indoor archery or archery within a eruv.
    – Orion
    Aug 24, 2018 at 22:26
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    I looked this up in the 39 Melochos books and what he actually does is quote "leading poskim" as saying this and then admits that others hold it is Mutter due to Derech Tashmishi/way of use and other factors. The way you write it out sounds like his own interpretation and additionally you leave out the poskim which he admits holds its Mutter.
    – Orion
    Aug 26, 2018 at 1:14

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