Darts for kids

Choochtown

Looking for advice here. My eldest (nearly 10 yrs old) is mad keen on the darts. He still only throws at a kids magnetic board and when I tried him on mine he was fairly good. The problem I have is with bounce outs. A couple of darts hit the wire and bounced out and because he's only 9 they go worryingly close to his face. Because of this I'm reluctant to let him play on the board.

3 questions:

Am I being too precious? How common are darts injuries with children?

Is there anywhere I can buy a wire-free dartboard? I remember having one as a kid. I trust my lad with proper darts but not with dodging bounce outs. He does have quite a firm throw.

What are soft tip boards like?

Thanks!

HITMANHEALY

Choochtown wrote: »

Looking for advice here. My eldest (nearly 10 yrs old) is mad keen on the darts. He still only throws at a kids magnetic board and when I tried him on mine he was fairly good. The problem I have is with bounce outs. A couple of darts hit the wire and bounced out and because he's only 9 they go worryingly close to his face. Because of this I'm reluctant to let him play on the board.

3 questions:

Am I being too precious? How common are darts injuries with children?

Is there anywhere I can buy a wire-free dartboard? I remember having one as a kid. I trust my lad with proper darts but not with dodging bounce outs. He does have quite a firm throw.

What are soft tip boards like?

Thanks!

What board are u using

Lazarus2.0

I dont know how common darts injuries are with children but grownups probably do themselves more harm lol . If the lad is taught to throw and behave properly when playing the risk is minimal .

If you want his game to develop I'd suggest investing in a Blade3 board or similar - bounce outs are significantly reduced though arent eliminated . If you just want him to throw for fun safely - the 'precious' option - soft tip board might be the way to go for now at least .

You can get either at Argos for around €40 btw

mackeire

Choochtown wrote: »

Looking for advice here. My eldest (nearly 10 yrs old) is mad keen on the darts. He still only throws at a kids magnetic board and when I tried him on mine he was fairly good. The problem I have is with bounce outs. A couple of darts hit the wire and bounced out and because he's only 9 they go worryingly close to his face. Because of this I'm reluctant to let him play on the board.

3 questions:

Am I being too precious? How common are darts injuries with children?

Is there anywhere I can buy a wire-free dartboard? I remember having one as a kid. I trust my lad with proper darts but not with dodging bounce outs. He does have quite a firm throw.

What are soft tip boards like?

Thanks!

you could buy a board, like a unicorn striker, and pull out all the staples that hold the wires in and then pull off the wires. Would that work for him?

dionsiseire

Not a bad idea pulling off the wires if the board holds together like that

Obviously at times there would be issues knowing if a score is a 20 or a 1, but at his age it won't matter.

Unicorn Eclipse Pro is your man, thinest wires, minimal bounce outs. Otherwise pull the wires

Choochtown

Thanks for advice.
Maybe I'll pull the wire from my own board and give that to him... good excuse for me to get a new one!

showgies

I worried too about bounce outs when I bought a board for my 10 year old.

However, he stands the required standard distance 2.37m (7'9.25") (not the standard height though) from the board and any bounce out don't seem to travel as far as back to the player.

I would be more worried about any other children being in the area around the dart board.

A dart board is a great christmas present and beats any computerised form of entertainment.

the_syco

Choochtown wrote: »

A couple of darts hit the wire and bounced out and because he's only 9 they go worryingly close to his face.

How close to the board is he?

Degag

Buy an Eclipse Pro (One of the better boards on the market, minimises bounce outs) They are often on sale in Argos for around €30 - but expect to pay around €40 for it. Some of the cheap boards are horrible and you could expect one in every 5 darts to bounce out!

Make sure he stands back at the correct distance. If he can't hit the board from that distance it would be much better to lower the board from the correct height than stand closer. If he follows this advice he'll be fine.

Oh, you may also want to buy a surround for it unless you want holes in your wall!

the_syco

Degag wrote: »

Oh, you may also want to buy a surround for it unless you want holes in your wall!

Seconded. It's useful to keep the darts from the wall (holes), as well as the wall from the darts (it'd blunt the tips)...