It's about 6:30 p.m. at Carroll's bar and restaurant on East Main Street, and devotees are already starting to gather for their weekly ritual.

The altar hangs on a wall, a circle 18 inches in diameter divided into 20 sections. Instead of wine or grape juice, congregants drink pints of Guinness; later they will share a bounty of pizza provided them by the proprietors of the bar. One of the hymns tonight is a raucous cut by Celtic punk band Flogging Molly.

Some of the parishioners are dressed for the occasion, sporting matching golf shirts embroidered with the name of their sponsor, K.J. Quinlan's pub. They've been crisscrossing the city together for many years, enjoying the shared fellowship of a sporting religion that unites men and women, young and old, hosts and guests across the world.

To this group of devoted followers, the sport of darts is very nearly divine; it has the power to bring people together.

"We've been playing together for freakin' ever," says Bill Lenhart, member of the K.J. Quinlan team. "It's a big family. It's just 300 people who know each other. Everybody's friends."

Lenhart and the rest of those 300-plus darts disciples are members of the Genesee Valley Darts Association, an organization that's been around since 1981. With 40 teams and eight divisions, the GVDA is one of Rochester's biggest and oldest darts leagues.

The players of the GVDA, as well as members of other darts organizations in the area, believe their sport provides the perfect blend of camaraderie and competition. Because the sport has very few physical requirements - as long as you have fingers and any amount of hand-eye coordination, you can play - it allows just about any player a chance to be competitive.

"I like the competition," says K.J. Quinlan's team member Penny Wasnock, one of numerous women in the GVDA. "Where else can a woman kick someone's ass?"

But while everybody savors winning, darters place even more value on sportsmanship, friendship, and bonding.

"There's always going to be a handshake after games," Lenhart says. "There's a lot of laughing, joking, and guys having a lot of beer."

Adds Tom McGinnis, who owns the store Number One in Darts in Henrietta: "It's a game anyone, male or female, can play, and there's no generation gap. You only need coordination to throw darts."

Most experts date the origins of modern-day darts to the Middle Ages, when English soldiers fought off the boredom between battles by flinging their spears or arrows at either the bottom of a wine barrel or a cross-section of a tree trunk, both of which featured rings that made for an excellent scoring system.

Eventually, soldiers brought the game from the battlefield to the pub, and the game gradually became more regulated. As the British Empire spread across the globe, the game of darts became a truly international one. As time went on, darts evolved from a way to pass the time into a full-fledged sport.

Around 1900, darts became standardized, and numerous international organizations, such as the World Darts Federation, sprouted up to unite players, sponsor tournaments, and offer world championships. Professional leagues like the British Darts Organization and the Professional Darts Corporation feature competitions with huge prize money and television audiences, and players like 13-time world champion Phil Taylor and seven-time women's champ Trina Gulliver have become legends.

The darts scene in the United States has thrived for centuries (some historians believe the Pilgrims brought the sport with them from England), and today entities like the American Darts Organization and the American Darters Association sponsor and host numerous national and international tournaments.

Several game formats exist, including "501" and "301," in which players or teams reduce their scores from 501 (or 301) to zero. Other scoring methods include "cricket," "killer," and "round the clock."

In many respects, darts culture can be divided into two styles of play - steel tip and soft tip. While there are subtle differences in the size, shape, and performance of the two types, the primary difference is weight: a soft-tip dart weighs at most 18 grams, while some steel-tip darts weigh up to 50 grams.

In general, while steel tip darts require a higher level of ability - McGinnis describes the two kinds as "soft tip and the real deal" - both forms of the sport can be equally appealing. "There's little difference," McGinnis says. "Some people are dedicated to one, some are dedicated to the other, and there are people who play both."

The sport's two varieties are reflected in the Rochester darts scene. The GVDA plays a steel-tip format, while other leagues, like the one sponsored by Stott Vending, offer high-quality soft-tip competition.

However, many local darters have played in both leagues, including the members of the Fingerblasters, one of Rochester's most successful soft-tip teams. Team members Mark Stephany, Joe Kinney, Pat Fagan, and Jeff Childs all got their start playing steel-tip in the GVDA but have since become soft-tip champions in the Stott league.

The Fingerblasters have won four city-wide championships and two state titles, and they've represented Rochester at the national finals four times. Team members have also fared well at the world championships in Chicago.

But that success hasn't come easily. Stephany began playing organized darts in 1987 and quickly became addicted to the sport.

"At the beginning, I probably played 10 to 12 hours a week," he says. "I was so infatuated with it. I would challenge other people, or I'd play by myself."

Stephany says technique plays a big role in the development of a darter's game, which means, naturally, that practice makes perfect. "It's just like any motor activity," he says. "The more you do it, the easier it gets.

"Unlike other sports, however, the physiological attributes of a darter - height, weight, physical fitness - don't really come into play, which for many players is a huge plus.

"You don't have to be physically fit," Childs says with a smile as he rubs his Buddha belly. "You can be round."

That results in a level playing field in darts, which makes other facets of the game crucial to a player's or a team's success.

"There's a lot of strategy to the game," Kinney says as the team warms up before a match at Snuffy MaGee's. "So much determines how you shoot. There's so many variables that come into it."

Those variables include the type and score of the match, as well as physical factors like type and size of dart, throwing motion, and height of the thrower. (Each team has a minimum of four players, but no maximum, and players can rotate in and out depending in type of match and team strategy.)

Because of those differences, Childs says, "no two games are the same."

But while the games themselves might be as unique as snowflakes, there's always one constant in the Stott Vending league - plain, simple fun.

"It's a nice social activity," says Stephany, whose team plays every Monday night in Stott's A Division. "It's good bonding. While it's nice to have four good players, it's also nice to have a commitment to hang out with your buddies one night a week."

That camaraderie also exists between different teams as well.

"You can't help but be competitive, and you don't want to lose, but there's very rarely a dispute (during a game)... We all know each other," Stephany adds. "Tonight the other team wasn't sure if they'd have four players, so we gave them several numbers of guys we know who could play for them. We like to think that we'd do that for each other."

For Kinney, it's that spirit of sportsmanship that gives darts a universal appeal.

"It's a sport you can take anyplace," he says as he holds up his set of darts. "It's very easy to take these with me wherever I go."

For the GVDA's Lenhart, the thrill he gets from darts is almost indescribable.

"It can't be explained except for the feeling I get standing at the line (to shoot)," says Lenhart, who serves as the league's publicity director. "It's me against the other guy, but I don't even see him. I just see the board. That's how a lot of people feel."

It's a feeling Penny Wasnock has gotten since she was in her teens, when her father passed the sport down to her. She says some people might not understand how passionate darters can be about the game, but that's OK with her.

"It's one of those things where you either love it or you hate it," she says.

Lenhart and Wasnock are both members of 5 Bucks and a Penny, one of the four teams sponsored by K.J. Quinlan's. In all, 31 area establishments sponsor GVDA teams and host matches every Tuesday. Lenhart says businesses like Carroll's and Quinlan's love sponsoring darts teams because match nights on Tuesdays usually bring in up to 20 extra patrons, most of whom consume a few pints. "That's a lot of money for them," Lenhart says.

On this night, Carroll's provides the players with free pizza. "They feed us," Lenhart says, "and we pay them back in beer."

He says the GVDA is actively trying to recruit new members, a process that includes sponsoring clinics for youth and other newcomers to the sport. "If they're always playing (darts) in their basement, we want to get them out playing competitively," he says. "If you decide you want to play darts, give us a call."

Beginners can also visit McGinnis' store, located in the Win-Jeff plaza. While other stores sell certain dart supplies, McGinnis says Number One in Darts is the only store in the Rochester that sells supplies for both steel-tip and soft-tip players. McGinnis says a set of three darts costs anywhere from $10 to $200 for steel tip, or $3.95 to $171 for soft tip. New dartboards run from $49 to $400, depending on type and quality.

Because supplies can get costly, McGinnis urges newcomers to the sport to try things out before buying; his store features two regulation throwing areas, one for steel tip and one for soft, to allow shoppers to get a feel for the products.

"I want them to buy a beginner's set first, then take a year or so to try it out," says McGinnis. "If they come back and the interest is still there, they can buy an advanced set. We don't believe in high-pressure sales."

And, after all, darts devotees say the sport almost sells itself. Because just about anyone can play anywhere there's a board, darts is practically universal.

"We're not saying it's the best sport," McGinnis says, "but if it's raining outside, guess what? You can come inside and have a good time."

For information about the GeneseeValley Darts Association, go to thegvda.org, call 739-3278, or e-mail gvdamail@rochester.rr.com. Sign-ups for the GVDA's winter season are scheduled for January 8 at Ira Jacobson Post. For info about the Stott Vending league, go to stottvending.net, call 223-1370, or e-mail stottvending@frontiernet.net. Number One in Darts is located at 3259 Winton Rd. S. Call 202-1915 for details.