This year’s tournament begins Friday at Alexandra Palace in London, with 72 players from 21 nations competing for $1.6 million in prize money. The winner of the final on Jan. 1 will take home $321,000, crowned as the first world champion of 2013 in any sport.

About 40,000 fans are expected to watch the action in a hall that, with its long tables and endless pitchers of beer, resembles something from Oktoberfest — and they may even be joined by royalty. Prince Harry attended the semifinals two years ago, and Zara Phillips, Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter and an Olympic equestrian medalist, was in the crowd for the most recent final.

A sport that once was, and to a large extent still is, synonymous with the working classes has garnered a much wider social appeal in recent years. Even Stephen Fry, the writer, broadcaster, actor and Cambridge graduate, has been a commentator on Sky Sports’ coverage of the Premier League, the 15-date darts equivalent of an arena rock tour that has progressed from 600-capacity leisure centers to sellout nights at the 10,000-capacity O2 Arena in less than a decade.

As a result of the sport’s popularity, orchestrated by the promoter Barry Hearn, the players — who go by nicknames like the Power, the Wizard, Jaws, the Dutch Destroyer and the Bronzed Adonis — now compete for an overall annual prize pool of $8 million.

Aside from the fast-paced action and a strong emphasis on providing fans with an experience to remember, one of the key reasons for darts’ mainstream resurgence in Britain after a sharp dip in popularity from its 1980s heyday was Sid Waddell, who, like Fry, was a Cambridge graduate.