Recently, to my surprise, I received a Nexus soft-tip dartboard from Target. This is the new showpiece of the English darts maker.

I had not played soft-tip in fifteen years. There used to be an electronic dartboard in my room, but it was soon changed to a ‘real’ dartboard. I have been playing soft-tip darts on Nexus for over three weeks. In addition to the tool that automatically calculates all your digits, there are many options on this tool.

The package includes a pass with a code. Through an app on your mobile you can redeem that code and use it to connect to Nexus’s online network. The online mode allows you to play against Nexus users all over the world. In addition, the Nexus has a webcam and microphone built in, so that you can see opponents on screen and communicate with them. This adds extra fun to playing an online game soft-tip.

You can play five different types of games online. The game of 501 (with or without double out), the game of 701 or 701 master out (with triple or double out) and the game of cricket, known in the Netherlands as strategy. For my first game online I decided to do 501, where you can finish a leg with a single, double or triple. I did not reach that, as I faced an Asian who managed to win the leg with a 12-darter.

I threw more than sixty on average – a meaningful one for me. During my competitions on the PDC Development Tour there is still ten points more, about which I wrote a blog earlier. Of course I realize that it is easy to throw a high average with a soft-tip, in the first place if only because the triples are big. But still, numbers are numbers, and it’s always fun to see progress in averages.

single player

In the single-player mode of Nexus, the possibilities are more diverse than online. You can play matches against yourself, games against three friends, cricket (strategy) and different games. For example, there is a race against time, where you have to throw as many points as possible in a minute. Another option is that you can see how long it takes you to get X points.

The good thing about Nexus is that many statistics of your played matches are stored in the app mentioned earlier. All your averages are stored there and you can easily see if you are getting better at soft tipping. For example, on Friday, December 7, I played a total of 24 legs in single player mode. Statistics show that with my poor foot I averaged 14.31 points per arrow (42.93 per turn) and with my best foot, I averaged 31.31 per arrow, or 93.93 per turn. Overall my average was 20.35 points per dart, which is equal to 41.15 per three darts.

Many major soft-tip tournaments are played every year. Most of the events are held in Asia, but each year there is also a trip to France, where the DartsLive Open is played at La Rochelle. I think it would be fun to take part in that one time, to see how such tournaments work. I expect this tournament to be back on schedule in mid-2019. If I decide to go there, I will definitely share my experiences in a new blog on this website!