While dartboard rotation won’t necessarily impact your minute-to-minute gameplay, this small feat of maintenance will, without a doubt, impact the quality of your overall experience, especially as you grow as a player.
So read below to learn more about dartboard rotation. We will teach you how to rotate your dartboard, how often to do it, and, most importantly, why you should remember to do it in the first place.
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The Importance Of Rotating Your Dartboard
If there is one thing that most new and amateur dart players have in common, it is that most of them will purchase a dartboard, excitedly hang it in place, and then proceed to neglect its rotation. However, rotating your dartboard should be kept at the top of your priorities as a dart player.
In essence, if you want to keep your board functional, beautiful, and durable, you HAVE to get in the habit of rotating it regularly.
Why Do You Need To Rotate A Dartboard?
You need to rotate your dartboard because dart play generates an incredible amount of wear to certain areas of the board. Rotating your dartboard moves the damaged segments to an area of the board that receives less play, allowing the wear and tear to be evenly distributed around the dartboard.
If you do not rotate your dartboard, it will wear out quicker at high traffic scoring segments such as the triple 20. Ultimately this will shorten the lifespan of your dartboard dramatically.
The game of darts involves throwing, with considerable force, sharp and pointed steel-tipped projectiles at a relatively soft surface. Your board will get damaged.
The goal of rotating your dartboard is not to eliminate excessive stress, it is to spread, and ultimately, even out the damage suffered by your board. If you are looking for a method to outright.
It is also worth noting that there is one spot on your dartboard that will not benefit from rotating and that is the bullseye. No matter which way you orient your dartboard, the bullseye will always remain in the middle and ultimately suffer more damage than any other segment of your board.
How To Rotate Your Dartboard
While rotating your dartboard is a very simple process, there are a few things you have to keep in mind when doing it.
First of all, there are many dartboard shapes and sizes available in today’s market. On top of that, you have different types of dartboards such as sisal fiber dartboards, cork dartboards, plastic electronic dart boards, etc.
Keep in mind that some of the dartboards available in today’s market cannot be rotated due to design or build. It is mainly bristle boards that offer this feature.
If the numbers around the outside of your dartboard are painted onto the actual board, it can not be rotated. These dartboards will just have to be replaced once they exceed their life expectancy.
If you are trying to decide which dartboard may be best for you, why don’t you take a look at this!
To rotate your board, you will first have to remove the wire number ring around the outside. Unclip it and set it aside until after you have rotated the board. Once the ring is off, rotate the board clockwise so that the 20 segment now becomes the 10 segment.
You can also go counterclockwise to the 12 or 8. It is really a personal preference.
Either way, there are 2 rules to remember when rotating your dartboard.
- You want to rotate either 2 or 6 spaces
- Once you decide how you are going to rotate, it must be done the same every time.
Why 2 or 6 spaces? This ensures 10 movements before your 20 gets back to the top. If you move it 4 spaces you will be back to the top in 5 moves, and 8 spaces will get you there in 2.
And consistency is important because if you turn your board clockwise once, then counterclockwise the next time, you won’t be doing much to protect your board at all.
How Often Should You Rotate Your Dartboard?
You should rotate your dartboard at least once per week if it sees regular play. How often you rotate your dartboard is directly related to how often you play and how well you shoot. So if you are good and play darts often, rotating the board more frequently is recommended.
There is no clear-cut, one-size-fits-all answer to the question of how often you should rotate your dartboard, you will want to do it as often as possible. Within reason, of course.
Once per week is a good starting point to prevent unnecessary damage to your dartboard and significantly extend its useful lifetime.
If you are a heavy, hardcore player and practice more than a few hours per day, every day, there is no harm in rotating it at the beginning or end of your session.
Feel free to vary the frequency until you find a spot that is convenient for you.
Whatever frequency you eventually settle on, the important thing is to remember to be consistent in your rotations. Failure to rotate is a virtually guaranteed way of drastically reducing your board’s life, and eventually your enjoyment of the game.
Most players do not rotate their dartboard enough, and there is no harm in rotating too often, so if in doubt just go ahead and rotate.
What else can you do to extend the life of your dartboard?
Your dartboard is engineered to take abuse, the tightly packed sisal fibers do their best to self-heal, but there are a few other things we recommend.
- Keep water away from your dartboard
- If it is near sunlight, cover it with a dartboard cabinet
- Sharpen your blunt points to reduce bounce-outs
For a full breakdown of keeping your board nice and clean, check out our full guide to dartboard maintenance here.