Top 5 Electronic Dartboards
1 |
Arachnid DarTronic 300 Soft-Tip Dart Game |
  This product was bought as a birthday present for my boyfriend. The electronics in the system we received did not work properly, and the scoring system did not work at all. |
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2 |
Arachnid DarTronic 100 Soft-Tip Dart Game |
 and its worth the money but sometimes when we play the darts don't register the number we hit. All you have to do is push the dart harder into the board, which is annoying, but overall its fun. Tons of games to choose from etc... |
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3 |
Viper 777 Electronic Dartboard |
 This is a great regulation size dart board for the price. It has plenty of game options and records points accurately. It has different tones for the points when scored. The darts stay in and there's not very much bounce out. The darts that come with it are usable to play with right away but the flights fall off very easy. I would recommend getting a better set of darts. |
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4 |
Viper Neptune Electronic Dartboard in Wood Cabinet |
 After permanently hardwiring my dartboard in my game room, the board turns on and off after every dart throw. The board will reset to the main screen, making any scorekeeping impossible. The manufacturer only has a 90 day warranty, so basically, they only guarantee the operation of the product for 90 days. I would not buy anything from this manufacturer ever again. |
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5 |
Arachnid Cricket Pro 110 Soft-Tip Dart Game |
 I bought this for my grandson for Christmas. When he opened it, he was so excited - it was just what he wanted. The lights and sounds were great and he wanted to play. (He's 12 - not destructive, and didn't do anything to "break" the board.) His dad immediately went to get materials to hang it on the wall for him. They didn't even get to play one game until the thing quit working. They tried new batteries (even though they had started with new ones), read the entire instruction manual to troubleshoot, etc. Nothing worked. It's a piece of junk. Don't waste your money. |
Electronic Dartboards: Safe Fun That Lasts
Darts have a long history of being a fun to play game among family and friends, particularly friends. From use in a home game room to popularity as a pub game and even a professionally competitive sport, darts have spread all over the world and have a history going back over 100 years.
In modern play, the most popular playing surfaces are electronic dartboards, especially for casual, pub, and at-home players of the game. But this was certainly not always the case.
The history of the game of darts is not officially documented. However, some of the most popular theories include people using the bottom of wine barrels or even cross cut sections of trees as a board. In fact, many people believe that the game itself (the actual throwing of darts, or short arrows, at these early dartboards) was begun by soldiers who had been drinking and began throwing darts for fun.
Regardless of how exactly it started, we do know that the game was first played sometime during the 1870s, and from there it has spread to many countries and is most popular in Europe and North America.
From old fashioned wood, dartboards then began to be made of cork and other materials that were solid, but soft enough for darts to stick. Now, millions of people have an electronic dartboard in their home. These hold up better than a soft wood or hard cork surface because, rather than the metal darts actually puncturing the surface, the surface is made of many plastic pins close together. The darts are also plastic-tipped and stick to the electronic dartboard by wedging between the close-packed pins of the board.
One of the best advantages of the modern, electronic version of the game (besides its long lifetime) is the automatic scoring. Sensors within the board instantly report the score of each player and can be programmed to re-set after each players’ turn, or to keep track of a whole game. They can play a number of different games, too, making the electronic dartboard an affordable, safe (no metal tips), and versatile game fun for players of all ages.
The History And Evolution Of Today’s Popular Electronic Dartboard
Darts are a fun game that are played all over the world. Today, many families, particularly in the United States and Europe, have electronic dartboards in their home. But the sport itself began much differently than a family game, and the electronic boards of today are quite a change from the equipment on which the game was first played.
Originally, folk legend attributes the first dartboard to one of two possible things: either a cross-section of a tree, or the bottom of a wine barrel. Either is equally likely, but the wine barrel story is a bit more entertaining. Legend has it that the first people to play darts were some British soldiers who had been drinking. They threw short arrows (the original dart) at the barrel or tree base and awarded points based on where they were able to strike.
This was probably sometime in the 1870s, and since then, the sport has continued to evolve. From those early days, both the scoring and the materials used to play the game has gone through a number of transitions. It is believed that the origin for scoring darts began when the wooden wine barrels began to dry out: the wood would crack and create different partitions on the board, and the soldiers attributed different point values to each section.
Soon, woodworkers were beginning to craft wooden dartboards to bring into the pub in lieu of paper currency to settle their tabs, and wood dartboards lasted for quite awhile. Eventually, companies began making and crafting not electronic dartboards (not yet!), but dartboards made of plasticine, a clay-like material.
After that, the plasticine boards were replaced with bristle dartboards that did not have the same odor of the plasticine boards. Modern boards were produced from sisal fibers, and finally, the most common in casual play, was the introduction of the electronic dartboard.
The electronic dartboard is composed of many close-together plastic pegs, and players shoot a plastic dart rather than a metal one. Instead of actually puncturing the board, the plastic dart wedges tightly between the surrounding pegs, triggering a sensor that allows the dartboard to not only read the number of points scored, but to keep track of multiple players’ scores throughout several rounds of play. These make the modern electronic version not only easier, but longer lasting (since they’re not ripped up by the darts), and thus a smart option for at-home players.
The History And Heritage Of Electronic Dartboards
Today, millions of people each year play darts on electronic dartboards in their own homes, in the homes of friends and family, at youth recreation clubs, and at pubs and nightclubs. But where did this game come from, and how did these electronic version of the game come to be? Let’s look a bit into the history of the game, as well as popular play in its both casual and professional contexts.
While it has not been officially documented, there is widespread legend that the origin of the game of darts began in the 1870s with British soldiers who had been drinking. The amused themselves by throwing short arrows (the early version of the sport’s darts) at either the bottom of a tree, a cross section or a tree, or the bottom of a wine barrel.
Specifically in the wine barrel example, the drying of the wood would eventually cause the barrel to crack and create different sections, which was the earliest development of scoring based on where the dart struck (and stuck to) the board.
Of course, those early games were rugged and irregular compared to the precision and ease of today’s modern electronic dartboards. In between, the boards were made of a variety of materials. From wood to plasticine, they have evolved considerably.
Now the game of darts is actually a competitive sport. and while it is not included in the international Olympics, it does have professional international competitive play, as of the last few decades, including World Cup competition.
Professional dart players do not play on an electronic dartboard, however. They have regulation boards and darts. But at-home players often use the electronic board for casual play among friends and family.
The electronic board does not require quite the finesse as the standard board, which makes it better for the majority of people who want to play just for fun. Not only does the electronic dartboard keep score for you. It will also last much longer than a standard board. This is because a competitive dartboard uses real metal-tipped darts. They stick into the board and leave a small hole, and the board will need to be replaced. But electronic darts are re-usable, ensuring that people of all ages can keep on playing this fun, social, casual game for a long time.
The Top Ten Reasons To Buy An Electronic Dartboard
There are so many reasons to play darts for fun at home that it’s no surprise so many people have dartboards of their own. Whether in a game room, playroom, basement, or garage, darts are a game that appeals to people of many ages, backgrounds and, yes, dart skill levels.
If you’re thinking of purchasing an electronic dartboard for your own home, here are ten reasons why you should stop thinking about it and just go get one, already!
- Darts are an easy game to learn. Even if you’re not all that coordinated or have trouble picking up a new game or sport, everyone can learn darts. It’s probably one of the simplest pub-type games there is, and that’s a big part of why it’s so popular.
- Darts are cheap to play. If you have an electronic dartboard in your home, it’s easy to spend and hour (or for your kids, several hours) playing this one game while chatting with friends. It’s much cheaper than buying a round of golf or going somewhere else to play.
- Darts improve hand-eye coordination. Like video games, but better for your brain!
- Electronic dartboards mean you break less stuff. Because they use soft-tipped plastic darts, not hard-tipped metal-darts, you don’t have to worry so much when you miss the board.
- Less injury. Same goes with missing the board and hitting people. Hopefully it never happens, but if you’re buying it for your kids, you know it probably will at some point.
- They also last longer, since they’re not pierced with a metal point every time you throw. So it’s a much smarter buy in the long run.
- Same goes with the darts: metal points can bend and soften if they hit the wrong surface (like a concrete basement or garage wall), but plastic darts either bend right back, or are cheaper to replace when you need to.
- Darts are fun to show off. Spend a bit of time playing on your electronic dartboard at home each day and you’ll be able to impress your friends next time you play a round at the local pub after work. (Or, for your kids, they can impress their friends and the next slumber party.)
- Darts have a rich history. This game goes back to British soldiers in the 1870s, so in a way, it’s a cultural experience.
- Electronic dartboards keep score for you. No more writing down the score or keeping track in your head. Let the board to the hard part and you just have fun.