Properly Placing Your Dartboard: Distances and Installation Tips

Whether you're a casual player or a darts enthusiast, properly positioning your dartboard is essential for playing in good conditions. A poorly installed board can throw off your game, interfere with your throws, and even cause accidents. So here’s everything you need to know to set up your dartboard correctly and follow the official distances.

Where should you place the dartboard?

Regulation height: The center of the dartboard (also known as the bullseye) must be placed 1.73 meters (5 feet 8 inches) from the floor.

This measurement is taken from the floor to the center of the dartboard, not to its edge.

⚠️ Pro tip: Mount the dartboard on a solid wall or a wooden backing board. Add a wall protector (backboard) to prevent damage if a dart misses the board.

Element	Official Measurement
Height of the bullseye	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) from the floor
Distance from the line	2.37 m (steel tip) / 2.44 m (soft tip)

At what distance should you stand to throw darts?

The distance to be maintained depends on the type of darts you are using: steel tip darts or soft tip darts.

For steel tip darts:

Official distance: 2.37 meters from the throwing line (oche) to the face of the target.

The distance is measured on the floor in a straight line, perpendicular to the target.

For electronic darts (soft tip):

Recommended distance: 2.44 meters (according to the rules of NDA or DartsLive).

Tip for purists:

If you want to be very precise, you can measure diagonally from the center of the target to the back of the throwing line: it should be 2.93 meters for steel tip darts.