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Dartboard Stats

Official Dartboard Distance for Steel-Tip and Soft-Tip Play

Set up a steel-tip dartboard at the DRA distance and bull height, measure from the board face, and understand how common soft-tip dimensions differ.

Glen Fairweather · 3 min read

Under the 2026 Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) rules, a steel-tip dartboard is set up with:

  • Throwing distance: 2.37 metres, commonly stated as 7 feet 9¼ inches
  • Bull height: 1.73 metres, commonly stated as 5 feet 8 inches

The 2.37m is measured along the floor from the back of the raised oche to a plumb line dropped from the playing face of the board. It is not measured from the wall. The bull height is measured vertically from a floor at the same level as the oche. These requirements appear in rules 6.5.9 and 6.7.1 of the DRA Rules 2026, in force from 31 March 2026.

Setup Bull height Throwing distance
DRA steel-tip 1.73m / approximately 5ft 8in 2.37m / approximately 7ft 9¼in
Common soft-tip setup 1.73m / approximately 5ft 8in 2.44m / 8ft

The imperial steel-tip figures are the familiar rounded equivalents; they are not exact conversions of the metric measurements. For a rules-compliant DRA setup, use the rulebook’s metric dimensions.

Where the 2.37m measurement starts

The board end of the measurement is an imaginary vertical line running down from the playing face of the dartboard. It does not start at:

  • the wall behind the board;
  • the mounting bracket;
  • the back of the board;
  • the front of a cabinet or surround;
  • the centre of the bull.

This distinction matters because the board projects from the wall.

Worked setup example

Suppose the playing face sits 4cm in front of the wall after mounting:

  1. Drop a plumb line from the board face and mark the point directly below it.
  2. Measure 2.37m along the floor from that point.
  3. Position the back, player-facing edge of the raised oche at the resulting mark.

The oche is therefore 2.41m from the wall in this example: the 4cm projection plus the official 2.37m throwing distance. Measuring only 2.37m from the wall would leave the actual throw 4cm short.

The DRA competition rule requires a raised oche at least 40mm high, 20mm deep and 500mm wide. A tape line at home can reproduce the throwing boundary, but it is not the complete DRA competition setup. If using tape, place its edge nearest the player at the 2.37m mark and keep the foot behind that edge.

How to set up a steel-tip board

  1. Mount the bull at 1.73m. Measure from the finished floor to the exact centre of the bull. The floor at the board and oche must be at the same level under the DRA rule.
  2. Align the board. The 20 segment should be black and centred at the top. For board construction and mounting considerations, see this guide to a bristle-board dartboard.
  3. Locate the board-face datum. Suspend a plumb line from the playing face and mark the point directly beneath it on the floor.
  4. Measure 2.37m along the floor. Run the tape straight out from the plumb mark and make the oche square to the centre of the board.
  5. Check the diagonal if useful. On a level setup, the calculated distance from the bull centre to the oche boundary is about 2.934m, because √(1.73² + 2.37²) ≈ 2.934. Treat this as a cross-check, not as a replacement for the two DRA measurements.

If the diagonal does not agree, recheck the bull height, the plumb point and the floor measurement. A sloping or stepped floor also prevents the setup from meeting the DRA requirement that the floor be at the same level as the oche.

Soft-tip dartboard distance

Soft-tip darts do not have one universal setup for every machine and event. A common arrangement places the bull at 1.73m and the throw line 2.44m away. DARTSLIVE’s introductory guidance gives 173cm to the bull and 244cm from directly below the board to the throw line (DARTSLIVE setup guidance). The US National Dart Association likewise places players 96 inches horizontally from the target face in its electronic-darts rules (NDA rules).

Event rules can define the measurement differently. For example, SUPER DARTS 2025 specified a 173cm bull height and a 298.4cm diagonal from the front edge of the throw line to the bull (SUPER DARTS 2025 rules).

Do not assume that an electronic board uses the steel-tip 2.37m oche. Follow the dimensions supplied for the machine, league or tournament, including whether the stated distance is horizontal or diagonal.