Electronic Dart Board

Overview

An electronic dart board replaces steel-tip sisal with a plastic target that scores itself. Darts with flexible plastic points lodge in holes across the Target Face; the impact pushes the struck segment back a fraction of a millimetre onto the Sensor Matrix, the Scoring Computer identifies which of the 62 scoring zones was hit, and the Display & Control Panel updates every player's score instantly. The format powered the soft-tip league boom of the 1980s-90s (NDA, and machine operators like Arachnid and Valley) precisely because the machine, not the players, does the arithmetic.

The target and its holes

The board face keeps the regulation 15.5-inch layout: 20 numbered wedges, each split into an inner and outer Single Segment by the triple ring, narrow Double/Triple Segment beds for doubles and triples, and the two-part Bull Segment. Every segment is an individually molded nylon piece drilled with a close-packed grid of tip holes, typically two to three hundred per large segment. The holes do two jobs: they grip the dart's plastic tip, and their webbing transmits the impact force to the membrane behind. The one-piece Spider Frame separates the segments and, unlike a steel-tip board's wire spider, is angled to deflect a dart that lands on it into an adjacent bed rather than bouncing it out. An outer Catch Ring of unsensed holes catches misses without damage or score.

Each segment floats slightly in the spider. A dart arriving at 5-6 m/s drives the segment rearward against the matrix; the elastomer Segment Return Layer layer pushes it back out, ready for the next throw.

The sensing matrix

Behind the segments lies a classic membrane keyboard scaled up: two Membrane Sheet films printed with silver-ink traces, rows on one, columns on the other, held apart by a perforated Spacer Sheet and backed by a rigid Backing Plate. Each segment sits over a unique row-column crossing. A pressed segment shorts its crossing; the Matrix Flex Tail carries the lines to the logic board. With roughly an 8×8 organization, 16 lines resolve all 62 zones.

The Scoring Computer scans the matrix continuously, strobing rows and reading columns every few milliseconds, with debounce logic so one impact registers exactly once even as the segment vibrates. The mapped hit feeds the game engine in the Microcontroller, mask-programmed with the full game library: x01 games (301/501/701 with double-in/double-out options), cricket and cut-throat cricket, round-the-clock, count-up, and dozens of variants, for up to 8 players. The Sound Chip announces scores and events through the Speaker.

Display and interface

The Display & Control Panel gives each of four score fields its own multi-digit LED Score Display, with the Cricket Grid showing marks on 15 through 20 and bull during cricket. The Button Panel handles game select, player count, handicap options, and the next-player and missed-dart buttons, the latter needed because a dart that bounces out scored nothing the machine could see, and the rules let players enter it manually.

Cabinet and darts

The Cabinet mounts the bull at the regulation 1.73 m; soft-tip rules then put the throw line at 2.44 m, slightly farther than steel-tip's 2.37 m. Twin Cabinet Door panels protect the face and carry Dart Holder racks and the printed game list. Power is a small AC adapter (Power Supply); consumption is a few watts.

The Dart Set is constrained by the board: electronic boards specify a maximum dart weight, usually 18-20 g, because heavier darts crack segments and punch through membranes. Each Soft-Tip Dart is a knurled brass or tungsten Dart Barrel, a 2BA-threaded Dart Tip, a Dart Shaft, and a Dart Flight. Tips are consumables, they bend, blunt, and snap in normal play, so sets ship with dozens of Spare Tip points, and replacing one is a five-second screw swap. Segment cracking is the board's own wear mode; on better boards individual segments are replaceable from the front.