E-dart at home

Home board or league machine?

Electronic home boards are compact, battery- or mains-powered and offer many game variants; segments and electronics are built lighter than on machines. Used league machines (free-standing units from pubs) have tournament quality, precise segments and coin slots, but need space, power and often servicing. For serious e-dart training the machine is the better choice; for family and friends a good home board is enough.

Dimensions

• Bull height 1.72 metres (e-dart in Germany)
• Oche 2.44 metres from the front of the board
• Soft darts with plastic tips, maximum 18 grams in leagues
• For league machines: space for the free-standing unit plus throwing area, from 3.8 metres in length

What to look out for when buying

• Segments with thin webs and small holes: fewer bouncers, better detection
• Reliable detection of hits on the segment edge
• Game variants: 301/501 with Double In/Out, Cricket, Shanghai, team games
• Adjustable volume for the machine sounds
• Replacement segments and tips available

Maintenance

Regularly clear broken tips out of the segments (with a tip extractor), keep the board dry and check the contacts on machines. Avoid soft darts with slightly worn tips, they are more likely to break off in the segment.

Connection and setup

A league machine needs a power socket, a level floor and space behind it for cables and the service hatch; the bull height is determined by the unit's height and can be fine-tuned with feet on some models. Electronic home boards hang on the wall like sisal boards, but need a mains connection or batteries and a wall protector, because soft darts bounce off the webs.

Playing with friends and online

Machines offer team games and handicap variants for four or more players; many home boards show statistics per player. If you want to play others online, you can use the DartCloud app on an e-dart board too: the camera shows the board, and you enter the scores or read them off the display. That turns the machine at home into a training spot with real opponents.

Which device is worth it for whom

• Family and friends: electronic home board with lots of games, quiet, cheap to run
• E-dart league players: used league machine, same segments as in competition
• Switching from steel darts: a home board is enough to get to know the game on a machine
• Club house or pub: machine from the operator, who takes care of maintenance and the coin system

If you're unsure, first play a few evenings on a machine at a venue nearby; that shows whether e-darts stays fun in the long run before you buy a machine of your own.

Replacement segments, tips and power supplies are available at the darts shop; used machines are usually sold by operators with a short warranty, while private offers without an inspection are a risk.

If you play both, hang the sisal board and the machine side by side; the different heights and distances can be solved with two markings at the Oche.

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