This is the first foreign installment of dartboard reviews, although I expect to be taken to an Pfeilwurfspiel-Eckkneipe when I visit Berlin later this year. I am on a cycling holiday in Xaló and was starting to get serious darts withdrawal symptoms after five days without throwing an arrow. After a quick Google I found a bar barely 100 metres from the front door of the AirBnB. Alas, it only has soft tip darts which I have never thrown before, but there is a first time for everything.

Once the pints of Estrella had been purchased and four Euro coins had been fed into the soft-tip arcade machine the throwing got underway. Initial sensations were good, the darts themselves were better quality than many steel-tip arrows I’ve borrowed from behind various bars. Although many of them had very wonky rubber noses, these could be set straight with some gentle pushing with your thumb. My first three arrows all stuck in the board, albeit not close to where I aimed them, which I can’t blame on the board. There were a few available games, cricket, round-the-clock, we opted for a 4-way 501 shoot-out.

The segments are much bigger on a soft-tip board, and quite a few treble 20s were thudded in. Other than the occasional miscount by the board everything was proceeding smoothly. As we approached the nitty-gritty of hitting a double a couple of things became apparent. First, my throws got loopier as they tend to be when I’m aiming at the bottom of the board, this lead to many more frustrating bounce outs. Secondly, it turns out you don’t have to hit a double to win the game. Sam was left on a finish of 48, a classic checkout where you aim for the 16/8 segments, which are next to each other. This will leave you tops or double 16, happy days either way. However, his dart strayed into the treble 16 segment. In proper darts this is a frustrating disaster, you are bust and have to wait until your next turn to have another crack. However, the screen on the soft-tip arcade machine declared him the winner and demanded four more Euros to play again. In disgust we turned our backs on the soft-tip darts machine and made our way over to the American style pool tables. Of course, a far inferior game than steel-tip darts, but at least mechanically reliable.

Maybe in the future I’ll come back to soft-tip darts, probably in desperation like this case. Hopefully I can be guided by a soft-tip native to enjoy the game more, for now it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Fortunately I am doing the 🔺Bristol Bass tour🔺 the day after I get back, which features plenty of darts pubs. Unfortunately I’m travelling on National Bass day, necessitating the tour to be the day after.