News about the world of darts or things in general.
To create conversations and share creative strategies and solutions for securing the future of steel tip darts, DartConnect conducted a survey of its member leagues around the world to see how they are coping with the global pandemic.
DartConnect League Services is an ideal solution for getting an online singles league up and running quickly. Online leagues can effortlessly transition to in-person play or allow both if Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.
If this is your first league, you can start with friends, family, team mates, small groups, big groups, whatever works! Whether you’re in it just for the fun, or creating a serious league for intense competition, DartConnect will make it less work for you and more fun for the players.
Have a question? Contact:
leagues@dartconnect.com
1. Define Your League. Create a written plan that includes:
2. Recruit Players
3. Create Divisions & Match Schedule / Fixtures
4. DartConnect League Portal:
5. Organize Players & Start Season
Should you require a webcam?
This decision is extremely important and should be tailored to the type of players and level of competition. DartConnect can easily be used with or without a camera. For more information on how to set up webcams to use with DartConnect, click here.
If the players are serious competitors, are playing for money or prizes, and express concerns about cheating, then requiring a camera is necessary. If players are more casual and friendly, you can get away without requiring it.
Note that you can also make this rule division-specific to accommodate both types of players. Remember that requiring a camera will limit the amount of potential players.
Most online leagues with a camera rule require the video image to clearly show where the darts land, but some may also require a second camera to show the player at the oche. Showing the player should be considered optional for practical reasons.
Regarding Cheating
Cheating is an unfortunate stigma of online darts and there have been some high-profile cases that put a stain on online competition. Even with camera requirements, accusations of dishonest scores can occur. In our experience, it is a rare occurrence in sanctioned competition such as leagues and tournaments, but high profile cases exaggerate how frequently it happens.
The best way to mitigate this issue is to have a clear and written policy with a severe punishment for anyone proven to be cheating. Most perpetrators are easily discovered because of multiple complaints. The majority of players will play honestly and by eliminating the few “bad apples” you can maintain the integrity of the league.
Division Setup
Whether you have one division or multiple divisions, configure your divisions based on the group size, skill levels and type of match schedule you require. Use the following guide as a starting point.
If you have multiple divisions, make sure you consider how you wish to structure your post-season. Playoffs can be optional, but if you want to crown league champions, make sure you’ve thought out who qualifies and if you want a different match format for post-season play.
Use free tools to generate a round robin match schedule such as Devenezia or Teamopolis.
Recommended Match Formats
Singles leagues are known for providing a lot of darts, typically long-format matchplay, but must balance the player’s skill level with the total # of legs to ensure that matches remain a reasonable length.
Matches that are too long or too short risk giving players a negative experience. In general, the ideal length for a singles match is 90-120 minutes. Note that, different from a team format, players will be throwing darts for the entire match and may need periodic breaks.
The following suggested formats can be adjusted to fit a wide variety of environments and player skill levels:
We recommend a single set instead of a multi-set format for the majority of groups, especially beginner and intermediate levels.
General Guidelines:
Play All vs Best Of
The biggest tradeoff is predictability of the time required to complete a match. A “Play All Legs” format has a fixed # of legs and a “Best Of” format can vary considerably. For this reason we recommend “Play All” for online matches. This also ensures that players get a fulfilling amount of games to play.
Top 2 Recommended Match Formats:
Option 1: Single Set 501
Option 2: Multi Set – 501 and Cricket
Option 3: Set Play – 501
This format is best for advanced players, but if necessary can be adapted for lower skill groups.
If you want to include Cricket to provide variety, we advise no more than one set to limit “marathon” legs affecting match length. You may also want to play fewer legs for a cricket set than a 501 set.
While 501 SIDO is the “standard” game played around the world, for beginners you can change this to 301, 401, or other starting score to adjust match lengths to the players’ skill level.
Additional Resources
This Fall the WDF will crown the first ever International Men’s and Women’s Virtual Cup Champions!
While Covid-19 has brought in-person competitions to a halt around the world, the WDF is embracing online darts to provide international players with more opportunities to represent their country on the global darts stage.
What:
Men’s & Women’s Virtual Cup Online Singles Championship
When:
27 September – 01 November 2020
Who:
2 Men & 2 Women from each member country
Why:
To provide more opportunities for global competition
To bridge the absence of canceled events around the world, the WDF has partnered with DartConnect to bring a new online cup competition to WDF member countries. The tournament will take place from 27 September – 01 November.
The tournament will be entirely run on DartConnect’s innovative Digital Steel competition software and scorekeeping app. This is the same system used at WDF-sanctioned competitions around the world, including the 2019 WDF World Cup in Romania.
Member countries may select 2 men & 2 women to compete in this inaugural event. All matches will be played online over a five week period starting with regional round-robin group play followed by a championship knockout round.
Following the success of the Summer Series held in early July, the PDC has scheduled the Autumn Series in Germany for 12-16 September. These five one-day events are a continuation of the Players Championship Tour and provide ranking points and qualification chances for the Grand Slam and World Grand Prix. Plans for a Winter Series in the UK should be finalized soon.
The Summer Series showcased the world’s top 128 professionals playing behind closed doors inside the PDC “bubble” created at the Milton Keynes arena. Due to virus-related regulations, players were required to keep score for their fellow players if they lost and many players were thankful to DartConnect for making it a stress-free job.
Details surrounding the new Autumn and Winter series’ will be forthcoming as the requirements for coping with Covid-19 restrictions are ever evolving and the venue moves from the UK to Germany for the September events.
In addition to video streaming on PDCTV, live scores and results for every match will be shown on DartConnect TV.
To see all the results and player performance stats from the Summer Series – Click Here.
Featured matches streamed on PDCTV:
Check out the PDC channel on DCTV for live events, results, player stats and more:
World #3 Gerwyn Price marks a match for Stephen “The Bullet” Bunting at the Summer Series
To: UK Amateur Super League and County Players
Monday 20 July 2020
A message from the founder of DartConnect:
For the last several years we have enjoyed working with the PDC, making floor matches available to fans and friends around the world. Our recent experience with the WDF at the World Cup in Romania, various European competitions and the Scottish Open had us looking forward to the Welsh Open and beyond.
Then the current health crisis disrupted the game of darts everywhere.
This appears to have also contributed to the uncertainty of the future of County and Super League play in the UK. Our mission is to make the game more accessible to everyone and we are ready to accommodate all levels of play, in whatever capacity is appropriate. We fully respect and support whatever direction the counties and players elect for the future of UK darts.
We will enter into formal conversations with the organization(s) that are selected to represent the future of UK darts. As always, DartConnect is open to discussing opportunities that involve system integration and data sharing. In the meantime, to learn more about the DartConnect services and pricing, please visit www.dartconnect.com.
We look forward to returning to in-person darts as quickly and safely as possible.
David Macher
CEO and Founder
DartConnect
DartConnect users will notice some changes to the app’s quick keys for scoring 01 games.
Below are the new number layouts for Basic, Advanced and Master Quick Keys. The biggest change is larger buttons for the big scores of 100 and 140, which also allows 2 additional quick keys to replace them in the margins. When the keypad is used, the large keys will disappear and reveal the “+, – and 0” keys.
Quick Key sets can be changed in the user settings by tapping the gear icon.
DartConnect’s quick keys and one tap remainder make it the fastest way to enter scores for 01 games.
Held within the “Bubble” concept that all professional sports have been forced to implement, the PDC ProTour is finally back from its Coronavirus hiatus and DartConnect will be there with full LIVE coverage.
Five straight days of competition, dubbed the “Summer Series,” faces the biggest changes in the tour’s history as play resumes with strict social distancing measures. Staff markers will be absent to reduce occupancy, resulting in players marking games for one another with DartConnect.
This means the players themselves will be responsible for feeding the live scoreboards to fans on DartConnect TV, another ProTour first.
The PDC Summer Series
08-12 June 2020
Milton Keynes, UK
Daily Start Time: 1100 GMT / 1200 BST
Possibly the most misunderstood feature of the DartConnect app is how to properly use the “D” and “T” buttons when scoring a game of cricket. “D” stands for “Doubles” and “T” for Triples.
A lot of people incorrectly assume that these buttons are “shortcuts”, meaning if you hit three singles of the same number, a single tap of the “T” button is all you need, and the same idea for the “D” button. While this has no affect on the main cricket stat, Marks Per Round (MPR), this will not allow for DartConnect’s unique advanced cricket stats: Missed Dart Percentage and Triple Accuracy.
The correct way to score cricket using DartConnect is to tap the buttons that EXACTLY match what your darts hit. For example, when you hit a triple, tap the respective “T” button and when you hit a double, tap the respective “D” button. If you hit a single, then tap the respective number button. Let’s say you hit three singles, the correct input is three taps of the number button. Including “Enter”, this means you will tap the scoreboard a maximum of 4 times to enter your score.
While Marks Per Round is the most common measurement for cricket skill, DartConnect provides advanced statistics made possible by entering scores correctly:
Missed Dart Percentage – quite simply, this measures how often your darts don’t count towards your score. This can be a great way to measure accuracy and improvement over time.
Triple Accuracy – you could loosely consider this the cricket equivalent of “100+ scores” in 01 stats as it indicates the extent to which you are a “heavy scorer” and is a great augment to round out your MPR.
Both of these stats can provide a better understanding of where you excel and where you need improvement. Better yet, data collection is completely automated.
All you have to do is keep score and DartConnect does the rest!
This weekend members of Professional Darts Corporation’s official scorekeeping staff will participate in the first ever “Markers’ Charity Cup” to benefit the WHO’s Covid-19 Global Response Fund.
The tournament will be the first official charity event run remotely using Digital Steel, DartConnect’s tournament system optimized to work with the scoring app’s online play features. Players will play from their home boards while staff leader, Mem Martin, runs the entire competition from her home office.
Held Saturday – 13 June 2020 / 1200 GMT
Match Reports, Stats, Results & More!
Join us in supporting the cause & contribute today!
– The DartConnect Mission Statement
Since our official launch in February 2013, our goal has been to make the game of steel-tip darts more accessible to everyone.
While there can be competing agendas within the sport, we believe the true challenge for darts lies in the multitude of activities that compete for consumer’s time and mindshare. Never in history have there been so many entertainment and sporting options.
However, if we achieve our Mission Statement, EVERYONE benefits, including:
We stand committed to providing the highest level of service and product innovation to anyone who is willing to make the effort to run a competition, volunteer for a board position, or simply promote the game at their local pub. DartConnect does not engage in exclusive league/tournament service agreements with any organization.
By connecting people through the game of darts, we create a growing community that is capable of great things, including raising over $15,500 USD for those affected by the current health crisis. We invite every organization to contact us to discuss how we can collaborate to grow the sport and be well positioned for the post-pandemic world, when in-person competition resumes.
In the meantime, we encourage everyone to explore our evolving online options as a means of keeping the community connected.
Stay safe,
David Macher
CEO & Founder
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