If you are looking to buy yourself a new dartboard, you may have already stumbled upon the fact that the type of wiring (spiders) a dartboard has is very important.
It is. And it can affect your play in a big way.
One of the things that manufacturers often use to describe their dartboards is that specific models are with a staple-free bullseye.
But what is a staple-free bullseye? Staple free bullseye is a bullseye that has its wiring directly embedded into the dartboard. Staples are thus not needed to keep the wiring in place, hence why it is called staple-free. Staple-free bullseye is not the same as a staple free dartboard as it refers strictly to the bullseye.
This may seem like one of these tiny-text types of scenarios where you need to read between the lines.
It is important to develop a deeper understanding of the different aspects of your dartboard. So this is why here I will cover all about the staple free-wiring and what it means.
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Why do dartboards have staples?
Dartboards are divided into different scoring areas and segments. These areas are all divided by metal wiring (also called spider), which runs across the surface of the dartboard.
There are a few different types of wiring.
Round wiring is the most basic type of wiring that you can find on a dartboard. It is comprised of, as you might have already guessed, round wires which are running across the surface of the dartboard.
Staples hold the wiring of the dartboard in place. Without these staples, the wiring will move freely, it may even come off the board, and there will be a high chance of warping when hit by a dart.
Usually, dartboards with round wiring will have the outer bull area stapled. The inner bull on some dartboards can be either staple-free or stapled.
The second type of wiring is the diamond wiring, which is similar to the round wiring. The only difference is that it has slanted edges that deflect the darts into the dartboard, effectively reducing the number of bounce outs.
The diamond wires, in a similar manner, also will have staples holding them in place.
And last but not least, we have the blade wiring.
Today, however, many of the newer and higher quality dartboards are made with blade wiring. This type of wiring is deeply embedded into the dartboard.
The neat thing about blade wiring is that it is significantly smaller, but it also does not require staples. Dartboards with blade wiring will also have staple-free bullseye.
Do all dartboards have staples?
Not all dartboards have staples. Electronic and magnetic dartboards typically do not have any staples on them. The staples are typically found on older bristle or sisal fiber dartboards.
Newer bristle dartboards are frequently staple-free.
The staples are more often found on older dartboards. Newer dartboards are frequently staple-free.
Today, many dartboard manufacturers do not use staples.
What is more, on many high-quality dartboards, you will also find that the wiring is a lot thinner. Manufacturers like Winmau, for example, are trying to use wiring, which is as unobtrusive as possible.
For example, the new Winmau Blade 5 Dual Core features wires that are between 10% to 20% thinner compared to the standard wiring. Also, the inclusive angle of the wiring has been significantly reduced from 90 to 60 degrees.
Where are the staples placed on the dartboard?
Staples are placed on the surface of the dartboard.
Frequently the staples are found in the double and triple areas of the dartboard. These staples can be hit by a dart, especially at the crossover points where they meet with the wiring.
Here’s the thing.
Both the placement and the size of the staples are important as these factors affect your dart game.
The staples can get in the way of the darts when you are trying to hit the dartboard.
What makes matters worse is the fact that on many dartboards, you will find the staple to be placed in the double or triple areas. The staple will be taking important real estate area, so to speak.
The double, triple, and the bullseye are already small enough, and do we really need more stuff in there? I don’t think so.
This will result in not only more bounce outs, but you can also significantly damage your steel tip darts; (1) the tip of your darts will be hitting the metal staples, and (2) your steel tip darts can fall on the ground.
In that case, one of the best courses of action is to upgrade to a higher quality dartboard. Keep an eye for frequent metal on metal sounds and higher rates of bounce-outs – these are the best giveaways.
If we take the same example of the Winmau Blade 5 Dual Core dartboard again. We will see that they mentioned something very interesting.
Because of their improved wiring system, they have a 9mm² extra scoring area in the doubles and 6mm² extra scoring area in the triples. The overall reductions of the wiring and staple surface is 14%.
Examples of staple-free bullseye and stapled bullseye?
Below I share with you some examples of the different stapled and staple-free bulls.
Above, you can see an example of a true staple-free bullseye. Notice how nothing is holding the inner or outer bullseye wiring. This is a blade wiring, and the whole dartboard is staple free. Playing on such a dartboard is a lot more enjoyable due to the low amounts of bounce outs.
This is an excellent example of a dartboard with a staple-free inner bull. Notice how the outer bull has multiple wire connections. This setup will lead to a very high amount of bounce-outs in the area of the outer bullseye. This is arguably not a good dartboard for cricket.
Above, you can see a dartboard with staples in both the inner and outer bullseye. The staples hold the round wiring in place. There will be a higher chance of bounce-outs in both the outer and inner bulls area. The dartboard on the picture is also showing signs of warping in the area of the bullseye.
Soft tip dartboards and electronic dartboards, although they do have thin plastic area dividers, do not have wiring and therefore do not need any staples.
Next, we have paper dartboards, which are usually the cheapest dartboards you can get. These may or may not have any staples around the area of the bullseye.
And last but not least, we have the magnetic dartboards. They are another example of a dartboard that does not need to have any wiring and thus need for staples.
Does staple-free bullseye mean a staple-free dartboard?
There are a few important distinctions that I believe need to be mentioned.
This may seem a little confusing at first, but here’s the thing.
A dartboard that is touted to have a staple-free bullseye means that the wiring in the area of the bullseye does not have any staples.
In other words, you will have a larger bullseye scoring area.
However, this does not mean that the whole board is staple free.
Frequently these dartboards can still have staples on the outer rings, the doubles, and triples. Many new dart players may get mislead by that only later to find out that the board is not entirely staple-free.
A staple-free dartboard, in my opinion, is a much better deal because it means that the whole board is staple-free, not just the bullseye.
A staple-free dartboard will provide you with a larger scoring area, which arguably will make your games a lot more enjoyable, and it will be easier on your darts. The number of bounce-outs will decrease.
With dartboards, you usually get what you pay for, and I recommend getting the best one for your budget. If you have no other option but to get a dartboard that has staples on it, try to choose one that does not have the staples in the high-scoring areas like the bullseye, doubles, and triples.
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