The Halloween Weekend Tournament Most of the Strand Has Never Heard Of

Image: Ghost on the Coast — https://ghostdarts.com

Every October for more than twenty years, while the rest of the Grand Strand is hanging skeletons and arguing about costume contests, a few hundred of the best dart players in the country have been quietly checking into an oceanfront hotel in Myrtle Beach to throw steel tip darts for real money.

It's called Ghost on the Coast — "The Ghost" — and it might be the best-kept secret on the Strand's fall calendar.

The 2026 edition runs Halloween weekend at The Landmark Resort (1501 S Ocean Blvd, Myrtle Beach), put on by the South Strand Dart Association. It's sanctioned by the American Darts Organization, the prize pool tops $24,520, and the whole weekend leans into Halloween — costumes aren't just welcome, they're worth a prize.

Photo: Ghost on the Coast — https://ghostdarts.com

It starts before the weekend does

The tournament proper runs Friday Oct 30 through Sunday Nov 1, but players roll in early for Pre-Ghost on Thursday Oct 29, all at The Landmark:

• 2:00 PM — 501 Capped (50 average and above) — $15
• 3:00 PM — 501 Capped (49.99 average and below) — $15
• 5:00 PM — Open 301, best of 5 — $15
• 7:00 PM — Blind Draw Chicago (501 / Cricket / 301) — $10

That Thursday night blind draw is the one to know about if you're a local who throws: you don't need a partner, you need ten bucks and a set of darts.

The main card

Sixteen events in all — four Pre-Ghost warm-ups and twelve main events across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, mixing Cricket and 501 across doubles, singles, and triples:

Friday Oct 30

• 3:00 PM — Mixed Doubles Cricket — $40/team — $2,000 purse
• 7:30 PM — Blind Draw — $15 — $2,400 purse

Saturday Oct 31

• 10:00 AM — Open Doubles Cricket — $40/team — $2,000
• 11:00 AM — Ladies Singles Cricket — $30 — $1,540
• 3:30 PM — Open Singles Cricket — $30 — $2,680
• 4:30 PM — Ladies Doubles Cricket — $40/team — $1,850
• 8:00 PM — Mixed Triples 501 — $45/team — $1,980

Sunday Nov 1

• 10:00 AM — Mixed Doubles 501 — $40/team — $2,000
• 1:00 PM — Ladies Doubles 501 — $40/team — $1,850
• 1:30 PM — Open Singles 501 — $30 — $2,680
• 4:00 PM — Ladies Singles 501 — $30 — $1,540
• 4:30 PM — Open Doubles 501 — $40/team — $2,000

Top singles pay $700. And Saturday night's Mixed Triples carries the weekend's best rule: the last player still in costume to get knocked out wins a prize. Throw well, dress better.

Photo: Ghost on the Coast — https://ghostdarts.com

Why the letters "ADO" matter

Plenty of bar tournaments hand out bar tabs. This one hands out national ranking points. Because Ghost on the Coast is ADO-sanctioned, singles results earn points on a rolling 52-week ranking (your best 15 results count), and those points feed Regional Playoffs and the ADO National Championship — the road to representing the USA. Every result lands on a player's official ADO profile, scored through DartConnect. That's why players travel for this one: a Halloween weekend at the beach that also moves a national ranking.

Photo: Ghost on the Coast — https://ghostdarts.com

Twenty-plus years in plain sight

The Ghost isn't new, and it isn't a pop-up. It's run every October for over twenty years — a darts column was already writing about the South Strand Dart Association's ADO-sanctioned Ghost back in 2001 — and old flyer copy bills it as "the South's most entertaining dart tournament." Regional qualifiers have been held just to send players to it.

So how did it stay hidden from everybody else? It markets where dart players live — the ADO circuit, league channels, its own site — not through the tourist channels the rest of us watch. And there's a second reason: Grand Strand bar darts is mostly SOFT tip. The local leagues throw plastic, the Ghost throws steel, and those two worlds barely overlap. Which is exactly why hundreds of visiting steel tip players land here next weekend asking the same question: where else on the Strand can I find a bristle board?

Staying where the darts are

The Landmark is holding group rates for the tournament Oct 27–Nov 2 under the group code "The Ghost": Resort View rooms from $65.54 a night, Oceanfront up to $100.57, booked by phone at 800-845-0658. The tournament's own Oct 15 post warned some room types were already running out, so calling sooner beats later.

One more thing, local throwers

MBU is building the companion piece for this week: a verified list of Grand Strand bars with real steel tip boards and blind draws for Ghost weekend, so visiting players (and locals who didn't know) can find a game outside the tournament hall. It publishes Tuesday Oct 27, and every spot on it gets checked with the bar first — no guesses. If your room has bristle boards and MBU doesn't know it yet, say so on the Page this week. The Ghost has been hiding in plain sight for twenty years. The steel tip map of the Strand doesn't have to.

Full tournament details, straight from the source: www.ghostdarts.com

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