How to Hang a Dart Board

When my younger brother and I first started playing darts as kids, I could have written you a great article on "How to Not Set Up a Dart Board." Setting up our dart board basically consisted of replacing a low-hanging picture on my bedroom wall with the board. The throw line was marked by my bed post, and carpet was the "perfect" surface. The end result of all of this was we ended up not playing darts that often because of so many things almost breaking and the occasional pinhole in the wall that had to be filled in. Fortunately as an adult I learned the proper way to set up a dart board, which is moderately simple if you do a little planning ahead of time. Here are some main steps as well as additional information to consider:

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• A dart board
• Location you would like to hang it
• Sticker, tape, or metal bar to mark throw line
• Drill
• Screws
• Measuring tape
• Dart mat (optional)
• Back board (optional, but will prevent holes in walls surrounding the dart board).

1. Selecting a Location:
   
   Make sure you pick a low-traffic area, away from anything breakable. In addition to benefits to the room, this will help players from being distracted or worried about accidentally hitting someone with a dart. If it's in your budget, purchasing a dart mat will help protect your floors from the darts and prevent hard floors from damaging expensive darts.
2. Hanging the Board:
   
   Higher quality dart boards are hung from their center. You will need to measure 5 feet 8 inches (173 centimeters) from the floor and mark this point for the center of the board (boards hung from the top will need to be hung to where their center will meet the 5 ft. 8 in. mark as well). There are also back boards available to protect the wall around the board.
3. Setting Up the Throw Line:
   
   The throw line should be placed 7 feet 9 and 1/4 inches (2.37 meters) from the front of the board. You will need someone holding a tape measure from the bullseye to help you with this. British measurements sometimes have a slightly longer range, closer to 8 feet and occasionally up to 8 feet 6 inches. Most throw lines are usually around 3 feet wide and can be marked by a sticker, tape, or a metal bar screwed to the floor.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure the lighting is adequate enough to where people will not have keep moving from the throw line to inspect where their darts have landed. This slows down game play and can be frustrating to players.