How Two Brothers Made Popdarts Go Viral—and What It Took to Scale the Craze from Mount Pleasant

July 2026

WRITER:

PHOTOGRAPHER:

Watch the Popdarts national champtionship next month on ESPN’s The Ocho

_{Popdarts cofounder Josh Carman and friends and family demonstrate how to play the viral game.}

This summer, four American Popdarts League (APL) tournaments will air on ESPN’s The Ocho, culminating in a national championship on August 7. With their eyes on $25,000 in prize money, competitors will arc suction-cup darts through the air, aiming to land on a target piece with a resounding “pop.” And when they do, Mount Pleasant brothers Josh and Jason Carman will be cheering louder than anyone. They’re the duo who invented Popdarts and turned it into a social media sensation.

It started in 2020 after Josh, then living in his home state of Pennsylvania, went axe-throwing. He loved the sound the axe made when it dug into wood—and the group celebration that followed a great shot. Wanting to create an equally satisfying game that could be played at home, he came up with a silicone dart that suctions to smooth surfaces, such as tables or countertops.

Josh rallied Jason, who’d moved south to James Island, and the brothers tested prototypes until they had a dart that didn’t just look great, but sounded great when it stuck: not too high-pitched, not too “thud-y,” explains Jason.

The sound would prove crucial as the Carmans turned to TikTok to market their product, posting daily videos of themselves making exciting shots. They experimented with different hooks and angles, plus more dramatic sound effects, until a clip finally went viral in 2021. Popdarts began flying out of Josh’s basement.

But the trouble with virality is it inspires scammers. “People started trying to knock off our products, even duplicating our website and acting like they were us,” says Jason. He’d been live-streaming nightly games of Popdarts from his backyard and had a group of players around the country who frequently watched and commented. Live-streaming became essential as “the best way we could prove we were who we said we were,” he explains. “And we received so much support in the chat that helped us through that tough time.”

As the Popdarts community grew, and players became increasingly skilled, the brothers debuted new styles of darts and game boards. “Once we’d sold a million sets of Popdarts, we thought, ‘There are a lot of darts out there. We’re seeing people play in bars and at schools. It’s time to come up with a competitive league,’” says Jason. The APL now has more than 400 registered members around the country.

In Charleston, you can buy Popdarts in stores including Wonder Works, and you can play it at James Island’s Sportyard, which plans to introduce tournaments soon. Start practicing now, and you might have a shot at the 2027 championship.