You’ve been watching some of the high octane PDC darts at home or at a pub or you’ve been throwing some darts at your local or at a mates house and you want to take the next step and buy your own dart board. Or you may have decided to build your own man cave and want to have your own dartboard as the main attraction of the room! If you are looking at improving your game its imperative you get your own board or have constant access to a regulation dartboard.
As you’ll see below having your own darts is a relative inexpensive purchase and can really accelerate your darts ability. The better the dart board (and with lots of practice), the better your darts will become.
So you’ve made the decision to buy a board, what do you need to know?
Determine where you will be setting up your darts area
The typical dartboard is 45.1cm in diameter and is set up into 20 numbered sections with a bullseye in the middle of the dart board.
The official distance from the oche (throwing line) to the dart board is 2.37m (7’9″) while the bullseye (middle of the dartboard) must be 1.73m (5’8″) from the floor. With that in mind you’d want to have about a metre gap behind the oche and you’d want half a metre or so either side of the dartboard to handle any errant darts and to allow spectators.
Most people set up their dartboard in a pool, billiard or games room or failing that in their garage or living area however if these options are unavailable don’t worry, we offer some alternative suggestions below.
Usually dartboards are fastened to a wall (either on their own or inside a dartboard cabinet) however should this option be unavailable don’t worry there are ways to get around this. The main alternatives to a wall fastened dart board is to have your dart board fastened to a free standing wooden cabinet or on a free standing metal frame.
Types of dartboard
As mentioned above, most dartboards are separated into 20 numbered areas (from 1 to 20) with a double and triple area for each of the numbers. There is also a small area in middle of the board for the bullseye (a green area that surrounds the smaller red bullseye area). There are some dartboards that don’t have the triple areas (such as the Winmau Yorkshire board) and there are some dartboards that only have 12 numbered larger sections (such as the Winmau London 5’S or the Ipswich 5’S).
The two main types of dart boards are the Bristle dartboard and the Plastic (electronic) dartboard. There are some dartboards that are made of paper and cork (even some novelty Velcro dartboards) however we will focus on the bristle dartboards and to a smaller extent the plastic electronic dartboards.
The majority of dartboards are bristle dartboards (the main ingredient in bristle dartboards is Sisal a hemp like plant) with a wire system dividing the board into its numbered, double, triple and bulls eye sections of the board. The Agave Sisaland plant (of which the sisal material is derived from) is native to Africa which is where a lot of dartboards are produced. All PDC sanctioned events are on a bristle style board, now sponsored by Winmau.
The other less popular style of dartboard is the electronic dartboard made of plastic. These boards have a similar numerical and double, triple and bulls eye design to the traditional bristle boards however they have little holes in the plastic to receive the dart and once the dart lands it triggers an electrical notification to allow the computer to calculate the score. The darts used for these boards aren’t the traditional steel dipped darts, specialised soft tip or plastic darts are used for the electronic dartboard. These boards are really only novelty type boards (or if kids were going to use this and for safety you chose this option) and no serious darts player would have an electronic dartboard.
So what dartboard should I purchase?
We will always recommend the bristle style dartboard as they are the best dartboards to play with and in our opinion look and sound the best. When looking at the quality of a bristle dartboard the grade of the sisal fibres is what you are paying for. For example the best quality dart board we recommend (as detailed below) is the Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core which has some of the finest sisal quality and is priced accordingly. Compare this board to the Viper Shot King (which we recommend as a good budget dartboard) which is made up of lower quality sisal fibres which is reflected in the price.
Bristle Dartboards
The main players in the bristle dartboard market are Winmau and Unicorn with other dartboard providers such as Target, Nordor, Viper, Shot, Mission and Formula Sports.
Winmau
Winmau is one of the two the biggest dartboard brands and is the current dartboard supplier to the PDC, with the Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core the official PDC dartboard. The Winmau dartboard range is highlighted by the Blade 6 range however other popular Winmau dartboards include the Diamond Plus Dartboard, the Pro SFB Dartboard, the Green Zone Blade Dual Core Dartboard and the Winmau MvG Diamond Edition Dartboard.
Winmau also provides dartboards for specialist leagues such as the London 5’S (with only the 12 wider numbered areas) repeating the numbers 5,10,15 and 20 and the Ipswich 5’S with a similar number scheme.
If you have the budget, we recommend the Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core dartboard. Alternatively a quality Winmau Dartboard and Dartboard Cabinet is the Winmau Diamond Dartboard Plus and Cabinet with accessories such as oche line, 2 sets of Winmau darts, shafts and flights, chalk and towel for the scoreboard (inside the cabinet door) plus a Winmau checkout card (peg out combinations)
Unicorn
Unicorn is the other of the two the biggest dartboard brands and was the previous dartboard supplier to the PDC. The previous preferred PDC tournament board was the Unicorn Eclipse HD2 Pro Edition. The Unicorn dartboard range is highlighted by the Blade 6 range however other popular Winmau dartboards include the Diamond Plus Dartboard, the Pro SFB Dartboard, the Green Zone Blade Dual Core Dartboard and the Winmau MvG Diamond Edition Dartboard.
If you have the budget, we recommend the Unicorn Eclipse HD2 Pro Edition dartboard, however if you are looking for a lower priced alternative, the Unicorn Eclipse Pro Dartboard is a quality lower priced Unicorn alternative.
Unicorn also provides electronic dartboards which we will review in the electronic dartboard section below.
Other Dartboard Manufacturers
Of the rest of the suppliers, the Shot Bandit Duro is a recommended board as is the Bulls NL Advantage 5.01 and the One80 Gladiator III. A decent low budget board is the Viper Shot King.
Like with anything if you have the budget also favour the higher quality option as you would with your darts selections however there are some good quality options at lower price ranges.
Electronic Dartboards
As mentioned above, while we wouldn’t recommend an electronic dartboard in favour of a bristle dartboard should you wish
to purchase an Electronic Dartboard, we recommend the following dartboards:
1. Viper by GLD 850 Electronic Dartboard
2. Unicorn Electronic Soft Tip Dartboard
3. Gran Board Dash Electronic Dartboard
As steel tip darts can’t be used on an electronic/plastic dartboard, we recommended the Win.Max Plastic Tip darts for use on electronic/plastic dartboards.
Novelty Dart Boards
Most novelty dart boards tend to fall into the sports team category in that we have are
AFL (Australian Football) Teams
Alternatively there are options where you can get dartboards designed yourself or at least partially designed with your team’s colours and you can add the name of your favourite player to this team board.
Should you find a dartboard that is designed around your favourite sports team check the quality of the board as you’ll find in nearly all cases it’s not a top quality bristle board such as a brand like Winmau or Unicorn.
Accessories for your dartboard/dartboard area
Dartboard cabinet
Most major dartboard manufacturers also create dartboard cabinets for their dartboards and we recommend that you purchase a cabinet from the same dartboard manufacturer. Some of you might want to add a bit of flair to your cabinet or you might even want to make one yourself.
Ideally your cabinet will also have a chalkboard area to allow you and your friends to keep score (rather than risk a fight breaking out having to remember your darts scores).
You can also get dartboard cabinets designed in the logo and colours of your favourite sports teams.
Dartboard Stand
As mentioned above, most people attach their dartboard or dartboard cabinet to a wall, however if that option is unavailable for you we recommend you purchase a dartboard stand. Most quality dartboard manufacturers or darts equipment merchants offer dartboard stands or if you are handy enough you could even make your own. Always be aware of your environment when playing darts using a dartboard stand.
Our recommended dartboard stand is the Winmau Xtreme Dartboard Stand or Unicorn Dart Mate
Dart mat
A quality darts mat will protect the floor area around your dartboard in the event any wayward darts hit the floor. The darts mat can also act as your oche as is the case in our recommend dart mat the Shot Professional T Bar Dart Mat.
Alternatively if you are happy with your current floor situation around your dart board you can either use a measuring tape to find the correct distance from the board for your oche or you could use a Viper laser dart throw line to find your oche. A simple mat or even some masking or painters tape will be sufficient to mark your oche and for a permanent toeline oche have a look at some of these alternatives.
Darts Games Book
You never know which friends or family might drop around for a game of darts and having a darts games book handy will allow you to play any darts games with any number of people. One example is the book 40 Easy Dart Games by Kerry Butters.
Spare darts
We will assume that you have your own set of darts, however do you have a back up set or a spare set or two in case a friend or two dropped around for game or two.
Other accessories
For some people they may be intrigued by the option to have a camera set up to film their darts exploits or in these COVID times to play ‘live’ against a friend or colleague who is in another location. This option also allows you to film your darts to help improve your game.
The Granboard Gran Cam camera system allows you to set up this experience and is set up in co-ordination with the Gran Cam Arm (which is recommended to be set up with a Granboard) however you set this up with traditional bristle board.
Caring for your dartboard
As we’ve discussed in previous articles, caring for your dartboard will extend the life of your dartboard and give you many years of enjoyable darts.
The main recommendations for caring for your dartboard include:
1. Keep your dartboard dry
2. Limit or keep your board away from direct light/sunlight
3. Keep your dartboard clean and tidy
4. Always use sharp darts
5. Always twist thrown darts out of your dartboard
6. Regularly rotate your board
For a more detailed article on caring for your dartboard, click here.
The biggest investment in your darts will be your dart board and for this reason we recommend you invest in a high quality dartboard such as the Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core Dartboard or the Unicorn Eclipse HD2 Pro Edition Dartboard.
The better dartboard you choose, the longer it will last and the better your darts will become.