Bristle vs Electronic Dartboard: Two Different Games
Bristle with steel tips is the game leagues play, thrown from 93.25 inches with 20 to 26 gram darts. Electronic with soft tips scores automatically, throws from 96 inches with 16 to 20 gram darts, and supports player handicapping. Bull height is identical at 68 inches. Buy sisal if the goal is to get good at darts and electronic if the goal is a household game everybody can play.
The framing that makes this decision easy: these are not two qualities of the same product, they are two related games that share a wall and a bull height. Deciding which you want takes one question. Do you want to get better at darts, or do you want a game the household plays?
Same bull height, different throw line. Both boards hang with the centre of the bull at 68 inches from the finished floor. Steel tip is thrown from 93.25 inches and soft tip from 96 inches, a difference of 2.75 inches. That is why a household with both marks two lines on the floor rather than moving a board.
Side by side
| Question | Bristle sisal, steel tip | Electronic, soft tip |
|---|---|---|
| Bull height | 68" (5 ft 8 in) | 68" (5 ft 8 in) |
| Throw line | 93.25" (7 ft 9.25 in) | 96" (8 ft) |
| Lane length needed | 9 ft 9 in | 10 ft |
| Dart weight, typical | 20 to 26 g | 16 to 20 g |
| Scoring | By hand or a dry erase board | Automatic |
| Handicapping | None | Built in on good boards |
| Power needed | No | Yes, mains adaptor |
| Noise | Silent | Beeps and announces scores |
| Bounce-outs | Wire dependent, fewer on staple free | Common, and they cost the score |
| Board life | Years, self healing sisal | Years, segments eventually wear |
| Transfers to a pub board | Yes, it is the same game | Partly |
| Typical price for a good one | $30 to $55 | $110 to $180 |
| Safety with children | Steel points, supervise | Plastic points, much safer |
Why practice does not fully transfer
Three differences compound. The throw is 2.75 inches longer on soft tip, which changes the trajectory slightly. Soft tip darts are lighter, typically 16 to 20 grams against 20 to 26, which changes the release and the arc more than the distance does. And the segment layout on an electronic board is not geometrically identical to a bristle board, because the plastic segments need physical separation that a wire spider does not.
The practical result is that a good soft tip player picks up a steel tip board and is decent rather than equivalent, and vice versa. That does not make either game inferior. It does mean that if the goal is to play the game a pub league plays, sisal is the board to own and no electronic board substitutes for it.
Where electronic genuinely wins
- Young children in the house. Soft tips are much safer than steel points, and player handicapping lets a six year old and an adult have a real match rather than a token one. This is the strongest case and it is a good one.
- A rented room. Soft tips do far less damage to a wall, and combined with a surround the risk is close to nothing.
- Nobody wants to score. Cricket in particular is tedious to score by hand and delightful when the board does it. This is a legitimate reason on its own.
- Mixed ability groups. Handicapping keeps a game interesting when one player is much better, and no bristle board offers anything comparable.
Where sisal genuinely wins
- You want to improve. Practice at 93.25 inches with a proper 24 gram tungsten set is the game everywhere else in the world plays.
- Silence. Electronic boards beep and announce. Some can be muted; none are silent, and it matters more in a shared home than people expect.
- No outlet needed. A sisal board needs a nail. An electronic board needs an outlet within cable reach of the exact spot the board has to hang, which constrains the layout.
- Cost. A genuinely good sisal board is thirty to fifty five dollars. A genuinely good electronic board is a hundred and ten to a hundred and eighty.
- Fewer bounce-outs, if you buy well. Staple-free wiring with a thin triangular profile deflects darts into a segment. Electronic boards bounce out more, and on an electronic board a bounce-out costs you the score as well as the dart.
What to buy on each side
- Sisal, best all round: the Franklin staple-free Grade A board . Thinner treble wires and no staples at the intersections, which is the specification worth paying for.
- Sisal, cheapest worth owning: the Accudart Classic at under thirty dollars, or the Franklin 18 in with a rotating number ring.
- Electronic, best all round: the Viper 850 , with better segment separation and handicapping.
- Electronic, cheapest worth owning: the Arachnid CricketMaxx , which sits on the right side of the segment sensitivity line.
- Electronic that looks like furniture: the cabinet version , for a living room.
- Darts for each: tungsten at 24 g for steel tip and soft tips in a nine pack for electronic, because plastic points break and get lost.
Related
The regulation figures for both are in the dart dimensions chart and in the layout calculator, which switches between the two throw lines. Boards are compared in the dartboard roundup and the electronic roundup. For hanging either one properly, see how to hang a dartboard.
Deciding on a specific model? We review the Accudart Match Pro dartboard cabinet set review and Red Dragon Pegasus tungsten steel darts review in full.
Frequently asked questions
Is a bristle or electronic dartboard better?
They are different games rather than better and worse. Bristle with steel tips is the game leagues and pubs play, thrown from 7 ft 9.25 in with heavier darts, and practice on it transfers anywhere. Electronic with soft tips scores automatically, throws from 8 ft with lighter darts, and offers player handicapping so a child and an adult can have a real match. Choose on what you want the room to do rather than on which is objectively better.
Why is the electronic throw line further back?
Soft tip is thrown from 96 inches against 93.25 inches for steel tip, a difference of 2.75 inches. It comes from the soft tip game developing separately with lighter darts and a different segment geometry. The bull height is identical at 68 inches for both, which is why a household with both boards mounts them at the same height and marks two lines.
Does practice on an electronic board transfer to a bristle board?
Partly, and less than people expect. Three things differ: the throw distance is three inches longer, soft tip darts are typically 16 to 20 grams against 20 to 26 for steel, and the segment layout on an electronic board is not geometrically identical because the plastic holes need physical separation. The result is that a good soft tip player is a decent steel tip player rather than an equivalent one.
Are electronic dartboards accurate at scoring?
The good ones are, and the cheap ones are the biggest source of frustration in the category. Segments register a hit by physical movement, so a dart landing on a wire divider or barely penetrating may not register at all. Below about a hundred dollars this happens constantly. Prioritise segment size and separation over the number of games printed on the box, because nobody plays more than a handful of the forty games any board claims.
Can children use a bristle dartboard?
With supervision and a suitable age, yes, and steel tips are genuinely sharp. A cabinet with doors that close over the board with the darts inside is a real control rather than a styling feature. For a household with young children, soft tip is the safer default and a magnetic or velcro board is the option below that. Hang whichever board out of the room main traffic route rather than on the wall by the door.
How long does a bristle dartboard last?
Several years of regular home play, longer if you rotate the number ring every few weeks so the wear moves off the twenty bed. Sisal fibres part around a dart and close when it is pulled, which is why the board self-heals. What kills a board early is damp, which makes the fibres swell and stop closing, so a basement board wants the room held between 45 and 50 percent relative humidity.
Measuring your own room before anything is delivered? The Game Room Layout Planner is the paid version of these pages: 8 printable worksheets you fill in with your own numbers, plus the full PDF, $29.
How we work: we compare published manufacturer dimensions, the governing playing standards for each game, and reviews from owners who live with the equipment. We do not test games in person, and we say so on every page. Clearance figures here are researched guidance for planning a room, not professional advice: measure your own space, and have a slate table delivered, assembled and levelled by an installer rather than moving it yourself.