So with trying to find things to do during quarantine and wanting a decent board for a while I decided to pull the trigger on this one. It is overall a solid board. Giving it a 5 based on functionality and cost. (Likely overall give it a 4.5 but they don’t let you do that and nothing is inherently wrong with it) I will get into pros and cons along with some other thoughts for people in deciding if it’s the right board for you. So overall, it has most of everything you could expect, wide variety of games, the ability to set certain options (double in single out, etc.), and I haven’t noticed anything like dead spots or darts failing to register. In terms of bounce outs, which I know people complain about with a lot of boards, I will say this, when it comes to soft tip boards, it’s just as much about your tips as your board. So for this board the generic ones that come with it are just fine, but more importantly if you are buying tips, then go with Vipers 2BA Tufflex Tips II. Those based on the thinner point diameter work very well with this board. I have yet to have a bounce out with these or the ones that came with. A middle ground would be something like Wolftop 2BA double dimple design tips, not as good as the tufflex 2 as they are ever so slightly thicker. If you go with the Tufflex III however, you will experience bounce outs. Why? The tips are much/ noticeably thicker than the Tufflex II. Simple science, larger peg going in a smaller hole. Also, while the two sets of darts that come with it are fine. But if you’re buying a board like this I would imagine you have a set or two of your own that are likely slightly heavier. For reference I shoot with 18 gram darts. Pros: -Good board with good variety of games for price. -Easy enough to mount to whatever you want with the screws that come with, just make sure it is tight and you will be fine -Good register with no bounce out issues. -Lighted marks for scoring in cricket (the slash, X, and X with circle along with score) -Ability to play solo against the computer with 5 levels of difficulty -Functionally gets the job done and has worked well for me Cons: (these are mostly nit-picky but should prove helpful if deciding) -For cricket scoring and all others, displays 2 players, so if you have 3, while player 3 is shooting, you can’t see where player 1 and 2 are at mark or scoring wise. So say you play 4 or 8 with this, it’s impossible to keep track which matters in close games of course. (Had I done it all over again I may have got one with 4 players display at once) So it shows the overall score of players 1-4 at once it only shows, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 ,7-8 marks based on who is shooting. And if there are 8 players, then scores 5-8 replace 1-4 up top when you get to those players. Ultimately if you are going to have a lot of 3-4 player games of cricket maybe look at one of the models with simultaneous 4 player display. -The sound is slightly silly in some regards, it exclaims “miss” when you are say playing cricket and don’t hit a scoreable mark instead of just remaining silent. It’s more silly annoying than anything, and it’s all or nothing with the sound, so you either turn it off and get nothing, or have to hear that on occasion. -The computer skill level is a bit silly in some respects. In most games it doesn’t matter, but in say cricket, the strategy of the computer never changes, shoot for bullseye first, and then start at 15 and work its way forward. No randomness about it ever regardless of what you hit. So in essence, if you are playing cricket against the computer, close what you want but against the highest level of difficulty, be ready to end the game in 5 or 6 rounds or lose at it (the computer player) will work down the line and close out what it needs to in order every time with a round or two of variation in shooting singles doubles, triples, etc. Then of course if you are ahead in score, after, and only after it closes everything out will it look for the highest open number and hit that to catch up. It is good in a way that it puts some pressure on the player to be accurate and obviously the levels can be adjusted, but ultimately there is no strategy involved so it’s not the same as playing against a human in that regard. -No round counter -No back button (sounds silly, but if you accidentally move forward on someone’s turn you can’t roll it back, you can only skip a round for everyone) I know more Cons were listed, but like I said, nit-picky stuff mostly, hopefully helpful for those looking at this or others like it.
