“Pikachu” vs. audience
Ricardo Pietreczko becomes a darts villain for one evening
By Kevin Schulte
November 15, 2023, 6:50 a.m
German darts shooting star celebrated a month ago, now part of a big controversy at the Grand Slam: Ricardo Pietreczko wins his last group game against Nathan Aspinall, but his appearance causes irritation and incomprehension.
Ricardo Pietreczko “just wants to play darts”. This is what Germany’s new darts hero says like a mantra into every microphone when he is asked about the goal for his next game, his next tournament or his first World Cup participation at the end of this year. On Tuesday evening, “Pikachu”, as the Nuremberg native is called in the darts scene, did the opposite. In the final group game at the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton (England) against Nathan Aspinall, Pietreczko played with a serious and stoic expression.
From the very first second, it was clear how pissed off the 29-year-old German still was, even two days after his early exit. During the walk-on, he didn’t high-five anyone and didn’t give the audience a glance. “Pikachu” looked into the TV cameras as if he wanted to become the new darts villain. When the game started, he acted hectically, throwing his arrows much faster than usual and often erratically. During the game, he pointedly shook his head after bad shots. A body language of horror.
But because Aspinall wasn’t anywhere near his top form, “Pikachu” was even able to narrowly win the game 5:4. But Pietreczko couldn’t be happy about the sportingly respectable conclusion to the tournament. After the routine handshake with opponent and official, the Nuremberg player immediately left the stage with a serious expression.
Two days after slap against Beau Greaves
The reason for the strange appearance of the 29-year-old from Nuremberg was two days ago. On Sunday evening, Pietreczko absolutely had to win in his second group game at the Grand Slam against Beau Greaves, the best player in the world, in order to still have a chance of reaching the round of 16. The pressure on the German’s shoulders was immense.
But that shouldn’t be Pietreczko’s biggest problem, because the spectators in Wolverhampton – unsurprisingly – sided with their compatriot Greaves. Pietreczko was occasionally booed and whistled and responded. He allowed himself to be provoked by the audience and provoked himself in return. That, unsurprisingly, only made it worse. The audience had long since zeroed in on the young German, Pietreczko was no longer able to put his stamp on the game and lost 5-1 to the 19-year-old.
The fact that “Pikachu” cannot handle boos also has to do with his strong sense of justice. At a tournament in Leverkusen at the beginning of the year, he campaigned to ensure that spectators did not boo his opponents. That didn’t help him. At the end of September he was upset by spectators when he first lost his nerve and then the game against a local qualifier at the Hungarian Darts Trophy in Hungary.
At the end of October, on the sidelines of the European Championships in Dortmund, he also revealed how much he is annoyed by whistles from the audience, whether directed at him or his opponents. “I don’t want to comment on that anymore,” said Pietreczko to ntv.de after his first-round win against the booed Englishman Ross Smith.
He just wants to play darts
The 29-year-old from Nuremberg is a purist among darts players. Someone who enjoys spending every minute of his life with arrow sports. Someone who keeps meticulous records of his game statistics. Someone who knows at all times where they or their opponents are ranked in the world rankings. Someone who “just wants to play darts” and prefers to have nothing to do with everything else.
If the external circumstances make “just playing darts” possible, Ricardo Pietreczko is already one of the best in his profession in his second year on the professional tour of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). The sensational title win at the German Darts Championship as part of the European Tour in mid-October was no coincidence, nor was the move to the round of 16 at the European Championship in Dortmund at the end of last month.
But if “just playing darts” isn’t possible, number 42 in the world rankings loses a lot of its quality. That was the case this week at the Grand Slam, the penultimate major tournament before the World Cup in London (December 15th to January 3rd) and at the same time the only event of the year with a group stage.
“Wanted to make a statement”
In his opening game on Saturday afternoon, Pietreczko was ranked 13th in the world. Damon Heta on the verge of defeat but missed a match dart. Against Greaves, “Pikachu” performed below his potential because he lost his nerve. His impressive victory over Aspinall will only be remembered for his critical body language.
Pietreczko said he wanted to “make a statement” a few hours after the game, in an Instagram video by Dazn commentator Elmar Paulke, who had previously compared the appearance to that of an “insulted liver sausage”.
The viewer-critical “statement” was by no means well received. British darts expert Dan Dawson wrote in amazement on And the organizing PDC also wrote on its official account that Pietreczko played “very strangely”. After this memorable darts evening, observers, fans and experts will all agree that “just play darts” would have been a better statement from Ricardo Pietreczko.