How to Hang a Dartboard: Height, Distance and the Diagonal Check

A dartboard is the cheapest thing in a game room to get exactly right and the most commonly got wrong. There are only two numbers, both are fixed by the playing standard, and an error of an inch in either is invisible until somebody who plays in a league stands in front of it and hits everything an inch low. It takes twenty minutes to do properly.

The numbers

The full standard is laid out in dartboard regulation dimensions, and the dartboard layout calculator will produce the set of figures for a specific setup including the diagonal.

Choosing the wall before you drill

1. Find a lane, not a spot. You need about 117 in of length and 60 in of width, and that lane must be clear of a door swing, a walkway and anything breakable. Darts do not always land in the board.
2. Prefer an interior wall. Quieter for the rest of the house, warmer, and no insulation or exterior fixings to work around.
3. Find the stud. A board plus a cabinet plus years of impact is more than a drywall anchor is happy with. Mount into framing where you can.
4. Check the ceiling. A throw arcs above the board, so about 90 in is the working minimum and 96 in is comfortable. Details in the ceiling height guide.
5. Think about the floor. Dropped steel points stick into carpet and bounce unpredictably off tile. A hard floor with a mat in the throwing zone is the good version.

Hanging it, step by step

1. Mount the backing first. If you are using a cabinet or a framed backboard , that goes on the wall before the board, and it is what determines the final board height. Fixing the board first and the cabinet around it afterwards is how a correctly measured board ends up an inch out.
2. Fit the board's mounting hardware. Most bristle boards use a centre bolt through the back into a wall bracket, with three retaining points. Get the bracket square, because a bracket that is a degree off shows as a rotated board.
3. Set the height to the bull, not to the board. Measure 68 in up from the finished floor and mark it. Hang the board and adjust until a tape from the floor reads 68 in at the centre of the bull. Do this after the floor is laid, and if it is not laid yet, add the floor thickness.
4. Get the 20 at the top. The board is rotated so the black 20 segment sits directly above the bull. A board rotated one segment out plays entirely differently and it is a remarkably easy thing to miss.
5. Mark the throw line. Drop a plumb line from the board face to the floor, then measure 93.25 in horizontally from that point for steel tip, or 96 in for soft. The line's back edge is the measurement point, and you throw from behind it.
6. Confirm with the diagonal. Tape from the centre of the bull to the back edge of the line at floor level should read 115.41 in for steel tip. If it does, both other measurements are right. If it does not, one of them is wrong and this is how you find out before the holes go in.
7. Fix the line permanently. A adhesive oche strip or a peel-and-stick throw line is the simple version. A laser throw line is the version for a room where a tape strip would be in the way, and it removes the argument about whether somebody's toe was over.

Protecting the wall

Everything around a dartboard is there because darts miss. Two approaches, and most good setups use both.

• A surround is a ring of dense foam that clips around the board itself and catches the near misses, which are the majority. A Winmau Pro Line surround or a Viper Wall Defender is the standard answer and it is inexpensive relative to repainting a wall.
• A backboard or a cabinet covers a wider area and catches the wilder throws. A cabinet has the additional benefit of hiding the board when the room is being used for anything else, which matters more than people expect in a room that is also a lounge. Options are in best dartboard cabinets and surrounds and backboards.

Lighting it

A board lit from the room throws the player's own shadow onto exactly the part of the board being aimed at, which is the same geometric problem a pool table has. A ring light such as the Corona Vision lights the board from all around its own circumference, so there is no shadow to cast, and it is the single most noticeable upgrade a home dart setup can have. Failing that, two lights either side and slightly in front of the board is the workaround. The wider argument is in the lighting guide.

Making the board last

• Rotate the board regularly, every few weeks of regular play. Most scoring happens in the 20, 19 and treble beds, and rotating moves the wear around the sisal. This one habit roughly doubles the useful life of a bristle board . Some boards have a removable number ring specifically so the numbers can stay put while the board turns.
• Keep the points sharp but not needle sharp. A blunt point tears fibres and a needle point can split them. A slightly rounded, clean point pushes fibres apart and lets them close again, which is how sisal is meant to work.
• Never soak a bristle board, and keep it out of direct sun. Sisal at high humidity goes soft and stays open, and in very dry air it goes hard and bounces darts out. Between 45 and 55 percent is right, which is the same band as everything else in the room. See humidity and climate control.
• Store darts in a caddy, such as a wall dart holder , rather than leaving them in the board. Darts left in sisal hold the fibres open.

Electronic boards

Same bull height, longer throw at 96 in, and two extra considerations. They need power, so site the board within reach of an outlet rather than running a cable across the throwing lane. And they are louder than people expect, which matters if the room shares a wall with a bedroom. The trade-offs either way are in bristle versus electronic, and the products in best electronic dartboards.

Related

The regulation figures are in dartboard regulation dimensions, the layout tool is the dartboard height and throw line calculator, boards are compared in best dartboards and darts in best steel tip darts. A dartboard is the anchor game in the starter buildout.