Dartboards

Modern day bristle dartboards were invented by Nodor in 1932, where they replaced the plasticine dartboards which needed to be soaked overnight, and which had a strong odor of plasticine. When Nodor invented the new bristle dartboard it did not smell, so was named No-Odour (NODOR). Modern dartboards are made of sisal fibers; low quality boards are sometimes made of coiled paper. However, there are several types of sisal fibre that are used in dartboards today, originating from East Africa, Brazil and China. It is readily accepted that dartboards using East African sisal are by far the best quality and withstand far heavier play due to the fibres' superior make-up.

A regulation board is 45.1cm (17¾") in diameter and is divided into 20 sections. Each section is separated with metal wire or a thin band of sheet metal. The best dartboards in the world have the thinnest wire separating sections so that the darts have less chance of hitting these wires and bouncing out. The numbers indicating the various scoring sections of the board are normally made of wire, especially on tournament-quality boards, but may be printed directly on the board instead.