Dartboards

Dartboards: finding the right board for beginners, kids and serious players

There is no single best dartboard — there is only the best board for how you actually play. A family that plays twice a month wants something different from a player throwing 300 darts an evening. This guide walks through the three kinds of board, what separates a cheap one from a good one, and how to set yours up so it lasts.

The three types of dartboard

1. Bristle boards — the real thing

Bristle boards are made from tightly compressed sisal, a plant fibre packed into a steel ring under enormous pressure. Steel-tip darts push the fibres apart rather than cutting them, so the holes close up behind the dart and the surface heals itself. This is what every professional match is played on, and it is what you want if you are trying to get better.

• Self-healing surface that survives years of regular practice
• The same feel and rebound as the boards used in televised tournaments
• Thin, staple-free wiring on better boards means noticeably fewer bounce-outs
• Larger effective scoring areas because the wire takes up less of the bed

Shop bristle dartboards →

2. Electronic (soft tip) boards — scoring done for you

Electronic boards use plastic-tipped darts that land in a grid of small holes, and the board counts the score itself. They come loaded with game modes and handicap settings, which makes them genuinely good for mixed-ability groups — a beginner can play a decent player and still have a game.

• Automatic scoring, so nobody has to do the mental arithmetic
• Dozens of built-in games and practice routines
• Soft tips are far safer around children and kinder to plaster
• Handicap modes let players of different standards compete properly

Shop electronic dartboards →

3. Magnetic boards — for younger players

Magnetic boards swap points for magnets. There is nothing sharp anywhere on the set, nothing to damage a wall, and nothing to worry about if a throw goes badly wrong. They are a first board rather than a forever board, but they teach aim and scoring perfectly well.

• No points at all — safe for young children
• Won't mark walls, doors or furniture
• Light enough to hang on a hook and take down after a game

Shop magnetic dartboards →

Matching the board to the player

Complete sets — everything in one box

If you are starting from nothing, a bundle usually works out cheaper and saves you discovering halfway through setup that you have no mounting bracket. A typical set pairs a board with a surround, a bracket and fixings, one or two sets of darts and a handful of spare flights and stems.

Shop complete dartboard sets →

Hanging your board correctly

Get these two measurements right and everything else follows. They are the same in every league and every pub in the country.

• Bullseye height: 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) from the floor to the centre of the bull
• Throwing distance: 2.37 m (7 ft 9¼ in) measured horizontally from the face of the board to the oche
• Diagonal check: from the bullseye to the back of the oche should measure 2.93 m (9 ft 7½ in)
• Rotate the board so the 20 sits at the top, and fit a surround before you find out why people fit surrounds

Making a board last

A bristle board wears in the trebles long before anywhere else, because that is where the darts go. How long yours lasts comes down to three things:

• Rotate it. Move the board round every couple of weeks so the wear spreads across the whole face instead of chewing out the treble 20.
• Keep your points sharp but not needle-sharp. A blunt point tears fibre; an over-sharpened point splits it. A light dressing on a sharpening stone is all it needs.
• Keep it dry. Damp swells sisal and the board never quite recovers. Don't soak it, and don't hang it in an unheated shed over winter.

Looked after, a good bristle board will give you years. Played hard every night without rotating, the same board can look tired inside six months.

Why the wire makes the difference

The metal web across the face decides how many of your darts stay in. There are three broad standards, and the jump between them is obvious the first time you throw:

• Round wire held in with staples — cheapest, and the staples throw darts straight back out at you
• Thin wire, no staples — the wire sits flush into the sisal, so a dart that hits it tends to deflect into the bed rather than back out
• Bladed wire — knife-edged and razor thin, splitting the dart either side of the wire; this is the tournament standard

If you are choosing between two boards at a similar price, buy the one with better wire. It affects your score more than almost anything else you can spend the money on.