Soft-Tip Darts Information
Steel-tip darts were the norm until the introduction of soft-tip darts and electronic dart boards. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the automatic scoring made possible by soft-point technology increased the popularity of the game because it made each game go faster and simplified the tricky business of scoring. Professionals playing the game for big purses and casual players readily adjusted to the soft tips.
Other People Are Reading
-
Dart Construction
-
Typical soft tip darts Soft-tip darts consist of four parts; the barrel, the flight, the shaft and the soft tip. Barrels are made of brass, tungsten, nickel steel, titanium or other metal. They are threaded at each end to receive the soft tips at the forward end of the dart and plastic or metal shafts at the rear end of the dart. Plastic flights function like the feathers on an arrow to guide the dart in flight. Interchangeable flights of many designs are mounted into slots in the shaft. Soft tips made of plastic materials thread into the barrel of the dart, offering rapid replacement if broken during play and the option of tip length and design to suit a player's feel.
Tip Options
-
Touch is critical to a dart player's aim. Darts is a "touch" game. Expert players appreciate the flexibility of changeable shafts and flights but especially the ability to change tip configurations. Soft tips are available in a variety of plastic compounds and designs. Although the diameter of the tip that penetrates the board is standardized by the board hole size, the length of the soft tip and the mounting flange where the tip threads into the barrel vary from supplier to supplier. Balance, durability and appearance are elements of soft tip selection. Dozens of manufacturers offer tip designs in a rainbow of colors.
-
Tip Design
-
Manufacturers watch the trajectory of their darts carefully. Soft tips are produced in an injection molding machine. Each manufacturer guards the exact chemical composition of the molding material very carefully. Tip designers study throwing techniques and take stop-action videos of darts as they reach the board to study how each design works. Darts that do not enter the board do not score, so tip designers constantly seek the combination of materials and design that reduces the number of darts that bounce off of the board. Although soft tips are provided in many colors to satisfy the individual player, it adds no advantage to the dart or player.
Dartboards
-
An electronic board simplifies scoring. Electronic self-scoring dartboards created the need for darts with soft tips. The inventors of the boards were forced to develop darts with soft tips because traditional metal tip darts would have destroyed the plastic face of the boards and the electronic layer that records the score for reporting in a digital window.
The Future
-
The future of soft tip darts looks good. Although the traditional English pub game of darts was played with metal-tip darts, soft-tip darts are here to stay. Manufacturers of soft-tip darts continue to refine and improve darts and boards to enhance both recreational and professional play.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit darts 150 image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com red and blue darts image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com darts in treble twenty image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com Darts image by marTTin from Fotolia.com electronic darts game image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com three darts off the mark image by davidcrehner from Fotolia.com
