Whether you’re playing darts for recreational or for professional competitions, setting up your dartboard is one area you must be proficient in if you’re ever looking to win in darts. The most surprising thing, however, is that most darts players merely ignore it and sadly, a huge number of them don’t even know how high is a dart board.
Now, success in darts doesn’t just involve practicing. There are other key factors you must adhere to such as finding a safe comfortable environment to throw your darts, and most importantly, setting up the dart board.
You see, according to the German Darts Association, all professional darting tournaments and competitions must adhere to the set rules and regulations regarding how to set up the dartboard. So, if you’re a beginner darting enthusiast or maybe you’re playing the darts game for recreational purposes, here’s a short step-by-step guide on how you’re supposed to set up the dartboard.
How High is a Dart Board: Step by Step Guide
Part 1: Planning the Location
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Step One:
First things first. Before you even think of hanging your dart board, the first thing you need to do is to pick an area where you’ll set up your darting essentials. Remember, the location you pick must be safe, comfortable and free from clutter and high traffic.
Professional dart players always prefer playing in locations that are silent and free from traffic to avoid noise interference. This, therefore, mean that the location you choose should be as silent as possible to allow you to plan your moves with less noise interference.
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Step Two:
Once you’ve picked a perfect location, measure the floor area to ensure it’s wide and not congested. One rule of thumb about the floor area is that it should have a length of at least 11 ft. and a width of about 5 ft. At least with such an area, you’ll have enough space to throw your darts and collect them after every shot.
Next, spare some space on both sides for the spectators. Additionally, spare some space on the right or left side of the board where you’’ set the scoreboard. Remember, the scoreboard should be visible to the spectators.
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Step Three:
Finally, just before you set up the dart board, examine the floor carefully to ensure that it’s not slanted whatsoever. Once you’re done, check the wall where you’ll mount the dart board to ensure it’s straight.
Make sure the place is isolated and not near passageways, inlets, (such as doors and windows) or near delicate objects that can be damaged easily by the sharp darts.
Also, don’t forget to add a protective material to safeguard the wall against the hits. Here, you can think of a wooden hardboard, thick blankets or a thick carpet. After all, it’s not certain that players will always hit the dartboard without missing right? Therefore, you must expect some darts to miss the board and hit the wall.
Part 2: Hanging and Marking
Once you’ve identified the right spot to set up the dart board, then you can start measuring the height of the dart board and its distance from the throwing area (oche). Thankfully, the measurements for the dartboard in terms of the height and the length are standard in compliance withthe official dart game rules and regulations.
So, with that said, grab a measuring tape and a marker pen and get ready for some serious business.
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Step One:
To start, you need to measure the height of the dart board. According to the official rules and regulations, the height of the board should be 5 ft. 8 inches, which translates to 1.73 meters from the ground.
Note that, when measuring the height, you should make sure that you measure the distance from the center of the board to the floor but not from the bottom of the board. For maximum accuracy, you can ask a friend to hold the board for you while you measure the height using a measuring tape.
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Step Two:
Now, this is where the question “where should I be standing from the dart board?” will come to effect. Once you’ve figured out the height of the dart board, the next thing is to measure the distance from the dart board to the throw line.
According to the darts game governing body, the universal measurements of throwing distance is 7 ft. 9.5 inches or 2.37 meters. However, if you’re using plastic soft tip darts, this distance is likely to change and increase to 8 ft.
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Step Three:
When measuring the throw line, you need to measure the distance from the “face” of the board to the oche. Now, the trickiest part when measuring this distance is that most un-informed people measure this distance from the wall instead of the “surface” of the dart board. So, when taking the measurement, make sure it’s from the frontface of the board.
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Step Four:
Once you’ve measured the height of the board and the distance to the oche, you can try to confirm the measurements by taking diagonal measurements from the bullseye to the oche. If the distance is 9 ft. 9 inches, then bravo! You’ve accomplished your project successfully.
Distance for the Women
Most people have been asking about the throwing distance for women. Now, other than the official 7 ft. 9.5 inches distance, other common measurements used in the throwing line are 7 ft. 6 inches, 7 ft., 8 ft. and 8 ft. 6 inches.
In most leagues today, men and women share the same throwing distance. However, some tournaments allow women to shrink the distance down to 7 ft.
Wheelchair Measurements
Now, if you’re a person with a disability, especially those that sit in the wheelchair, you might be wondering how you’ll manage to throw the darts at such as steep distance right? Thankfully, in 2012, WDF approved the new dartboard height for wheelchair users which is 137 cm.
You see, an average person has a height of 1.73 meters (173 cm). This height is the one that dictates the height of the dartboard from the floor since your eyes must be parallel to the bullseye.
Therefore, if you’resitedin a wheelchair, it simply means the board’s height should be 4 ft. 6 inches from the floor to the bullseye. With this height, your eyes will be parallel to the bullseye making it easier for you to throw.
Final Note
In conclusion, a dartboard is an absolute necessity in a man’s cave or basement especially if you’re an avid darts player. This indoor game is fun to play and offers one of the best ways to pass time with friends and family during vacation, camping or in case of an emergency lockdown due to pandemics.
Thankfully, by reading this guide carefully, even beginners in this beautiful game can now hang their boards by following these officially recommended measurements. With that said, if you’ve already purchased a dartboard, then you only need to pick a measuring tape and get down to work.