Help with dart board (1 Viewer)

[Eric_L]

In my man-cave I have hung a dart board at the proper heights. The board is a horsehair board which has been adapted for use with steel or soft-tip darts.
I have only tried playing once. I threw my soft tip darts at it. Most would stick, but about 1/5 times one would fall. It would hit the hard concrete floor below and break the tip. You can imagine how many tips I would go through in a game.

So then I tried a steel tipped dart.. They also would fall, but when it hit the ground the plastic around the flight broke.. DOH!!!

So I have a problem. Maybe my dartboard is shit. But also, falling darts are inevitable; what can I do to protect my investments? I have considered a small rug, but I am not sure that'll do it. I've considered a small table or shelf too... I thought maybe I'd see if anyone here has had similar problems.

 

[Paul D G]

If your steel tipped darts aren't sticking I'd say it's probably a crappy board. Not that I'm any sort of expert - we just have a plastic tip dartboard.


Throwing a square of carpeting under the board should do it.


Perhaps there's some sort of break-in routine that needs to be done; to loosen the horsehair?

 

[Al.Anderson]

I don't think carpet will do much of anything, the pointy dart will go right through the jute. How about one of those clear acrylic things they use for desk chairs on a wooden floor? Or maybe a couple of sections of wood laminate (so it looks like the floor, just a 1/8" thicker).

 

[Scott Merryfield]

We have a soft tip electronic board in our basement, which has vinyl tile over a cement floor. A small rug would probably not be enough, as the darts will bounce quite a way at times. There is also a cabinet right below the board, but that doesn't help much , either.


I just keep a supply of extra tips and flights -- they are not very expensive if purchased in bulk online. A few dollars will get you a large bag of soft tips that will last a long time.

 

[Ruz-El]

When I had mine set up I put down those jigsaw kid foam play pad things under it. You can get non-kiddy ones without the roads on it from martial arts or gym supply stores I think.

 

[Bryan X]

Just put another dart board on the floor below the one on the wall.

 

[TonyD]

Throw the darts harder.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Yeah, you can buy those "jigsaw" squares at Lowe's, Sears, Academy. I've seen them at all three. Pretty cool stuff. In the meantime, things could be worse than a broken tip. You could be the guy with the beard:





Posted after being alerted to it by TonyD! Is that bearded guy Peggy?

 

[TonyD]

Yeah, you can buy those "jigsaw" squares at Lowe's, Sears, Academy. I've seen them at all three. Pretty cool stuff. In the meantime, things could be worse than a broken tip. You could be the guy with the beard:





Posted after being alerted to it by TonyD! Is that bearded guy Peggy?

Wait, What?

 

[Greg_S_H]

You posted that in the commercials thread. I was not previously aware of it.

 

[TonyD]

Oh yeah Mountain top!

 

[Philip Hamm]

I am by no means a darts expert, but I also have a dartboard in my man cave. I'm going for the sports bar theme down there and it's one of the MLB team cabinets which come with a fairly decent playing board. It's not my first board and it's OK; good, not great.


It is my experience that it's fairly impossible to get a board that completely eliminates the "pop-out" problem, particularly around the bullseye. In my basement, the darts will pop out and hit the ground about two or three times in the course of a typical two player game of cricket. That's probably 1/20th as often as on your board, but it still happens. I think you need to somehow treat the floor. I use standard cheapo steel tip darts in my house.


BTW do NOT throw harder! If you're throwing darts properly you should not be throwing them hard. There should be a good arc in your throw and the darts should snick right into the board.

 

[DaveF]

I don't know from dart boards (but I've got a quality one, unopened, in a closet awaiting a finished basement one day in the far future...)


But as others said, I'd think some cheap corkboard, foam mats, plywood, or such would provide a safe landing zone for errant darts.