The World Darts Championship is back! Thousands of boozy punters dress up for the first day at Alexandra Palace with Super Mario, Donald Trump and Oompa Loompa outfits all spotted

Thousands of drunken darts fans descended on Alexandra Palace for the first day of the World Darts Championship wearing their finest fancy dress.

Luke Humphries, who defeated teenage superstar Luke Littler to lift the trophy last year, will defend his title – and a £500,000 prize pool – tonight and spectators are packed into the venue to secure their seats for the action to set.

The iconic venue has a capacity of just over 3,000 people and is expected to see numerous pints consumed during the tournament, which ends on January 3.

But the celebrations clearly started before a single dart was thrown, with a host of eye-catching costumes spotted ahead of the first match of the evening.

Four people dressed in colorful Super Mario outfits smiled at the camera after arriving, while a group appeared as newly elected US President Donald Trump.

All four Trumps even appeared to perform his now iconic dance.

Another group of friends took a different approach and wore bright orange tops and skirts with large Aperol Spritz labels stuck to their chests.

There were also numerous Oompa Loompas, complete with orange face paint.

Fancy dress has become a tradition for the darts spectacle and punters went all out again to mark the start of the gripping competition on Sunday evening.

A group of beer-drinking Vikings also posed for photos before entering the main hall, while the nativity was performed by a group of eight men.

Two traffic cones were also seen pushing their way through the crowd.

The arena was once again flooded with excited revelers, carrying large jugs of lager as they sang and danced to their seats.

96 players have taken part in the competition, but only one will lift the hallowed Sid Waddell trophy, with Littler and Humphries the heavy favorites to triumph.

Thibaut Tricole’s 3-1 win against Joe Comito kicked off the action and tonight he will face the dominant Humphries in the second round.

Later in the evening, Jermaine Wattimena will take on Stefan Bellmont in the second match before Kim Huybrechts takes on Keane Barry.

The session then concludes with Humphries’ first appearance on stage.

Littler, who stunned the sporting world with his breathtaking run to last year’s final, begins his campaign on Saturday against Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock.

Gary Anderson and Michael van Gerwen also have little chance of winning the tournament, with the Flying Scotsman having enjoyed fine form in recent months.