DIY auto scoring darts: build your own camera dartboard

• 3webcams, one every 120° round the board
• 720pis enough, 1080p is a little sharper
• 40 cmfrom camera to board, give or take 10
• 1 porton the computer for every camera

• A bristle board in the standard colours, hung at the right height (see how to hang a dartboard)
• Three USB webcams of the same model
• Three mounts that stay put when a dart lands
• An LED ring light around the board
• USB extension cables if the computer stands more than a couple of metres away
• A laptop or PC with Chrome or Edge
• Scoring software that turns the pictures into scores

• Plug and playPick a webcam that needs no driver on Windows, macOS and Linux. Those are the ones a browser can open straight away.
• 720p or 1080p at 30 fps720p is enough to measure a dart. 1080p adds a little detail but doubles the data on the USB port and needs a faster computer.
• A normal lensAn ordinary webcam lens suits 30 to 50 cm. Very wide or fisheye lenses make the board small in the picture.
• A picture you can lockAutofocus and auto exposure that keep readjusting look like movement on the board. Fixed focus, or settings the browser can lock, keeps it steady.
• Three of the sameMatching cameras give the same picture from every side. Sridu’s Auto setup also prefers cameras with matching names and leaves out built-in laptop and phone cameras.
• A tripod threadMany webcams have a standard tripod thread underneath. That is far easier to fix to an arm or a printed holder than a monitor clip.

Leave the phone out of it. A scoring camera stays fixed beside the board for good. Your phone is more useful as a second screen at the oche.

Get the angle right

The camera has to see the dart from the side, because that is how it measures the line of the barrel. Head-on it sees only the flight, and almost level with the board it loses the rings.

Two or four? Two cameras are the minimum to measure a tip, and a fourth gives spare views for tight groups. Why that is explained in automatic darts scoring.

• LED ring with camera holdersThe tidiest build. The ring sits round the board and carries the light and the cameras, so everything keeps its place. Check that the holders fit your webcams.
• 3D printed holdersSearch the usual 3D model sites for a darts camera mount and you find plenty that clip onto a ring or the surround. Most are drawn for one camera, so measure yours first and print with enough infill.
• Wooden frame or backboardA square of plywood behind the board with three arms of batten or aluminium flat bar. Cheap, very stiff and easy to drill for a tripod screw.
• Clamps and gooseneck armsHandy for trying out positions, but they sag and wobble when a dart lands. Fine for a first test, not for good.

Do the knock test. Tap the board next to each camera while you watch its picture. If the picture jumps, stiffen that mount before you calibrate.

Keep the camera bodies outside the surround, where a stray dart is less likely to reach them, and run the cables away from the board towards the wall.

• Neutral white, the same all evening, with no mix of daylight and lamps
• Flicker-free LEDs. Bands rolling through the camera picture mean the light flickers
• Full brightness on a dimmable ring, as dimming is where cheap LEDs tend to flicker
• Curtains closed if the sun reaches the board
• No lamp shining straight into a lens

Shadows and light are covered in more depth in better detection.

• USB dataA 720p webcam sends about 40 to 65 Mbit/s, 1080p about twice that. Spread the cameras over both sides of a laptop.
• Cable lengthUSB 2 allows 5 m per cable. For longer runs use an active extension cable, which refreshes the signal.
• The computerIn Sridu’s measurements a 2017 laptop handles two cameras, and three want one from the last few years. Built-in graphics are enough.

Test the computer before you buy cameras. Sridu’s demo runs the full detection on three simulated cameras. If it plays smoothly, your computer is ready. The figures behind it are in the system requirements.

Rough street prices in euros as of October 2026. They vary a lot between shops and brands.

Kit or DIY? A ready-made camera kit usually costs more but arrives matched and tested. Building it yourself trades that for an afternoon of fitting and a free choice of every part.

1. Hang the boardBull centre 173 cm above the floor, oche 237 cm from the board face. Do this first, because the cameras are aimed at the board where it hangs.
2. Mark the positionsCamera 1 above the 20, the other two a third of the way round, at roughly 4 and 8 o’clock. A paper template with three lines makes it quick.
3. Fit the light and mountsRing light first, then the holders. Tighten everything before the cameras go on.
4. Aim each cameraOpen the camera picture on the computer and turn the camera until the whole double ring sits in frame with a little margin.
5. Run the cablesEach camera to its own port, clipped along the wall, with a little slack at the camera so a tug doesn’t move it.
6. Calibrate and lockIn Sridu that is Auto setup on the Cameras page, then lock the picture under Image. The camera setup guide walks you through it.
7. Throw test dartsTight groups at treble 20, treble 19 and the bull. If one camera keeps disagreeing, re-aim or stiffen that one.

• Darts on a wireWhen the point sits closer to a wire than the measuring error, a careful system asks you. With Sridu’s default setting, about one 180 in five gets such a question on a good board.
• Tight groupsA dart can hide another one’s tip from a camera. Three cameras cover most of it, four cover more.
• Changing lightDaylight, a lamp switched on mid-game or a webcam readjusting itself can all report darts that aren’t there.
• Bounce-outsA dart that drops out leaves nothing to measure. Enter it as a miss if you want it in your average.
• Your timeBuilding, aiming and fine-tuning take an afternoon, and you are your own support line.
• Soft-tip boardsCamera systems are made for steel-tip darts on a bristle board.

There are also platforms that work with a phone or with your own cameras. Every approach has its strengths; the comparison describes them in general terms.

• How many cameras?Make sure it takes as many as you plan to mount, and that one camera can drop out without stopping the game.
• Where do the pictures go?Processing on your own computer keeps the pictures of your room at home.
• What does it cost?Free, a one-off price or a subscription. Ask whether an account is required.
• Does it run offline?Scoring at home shouldn’t depend on someone else’s server.

Sridu is one option. It is a browser app, free for private use, that works with one to four webcams. The detection runs in the browser on your own computer, best in Chrome or Edge, with no account, and it works offline once installed.

Setup and calibration are in the camera setup guide, fine-tuning in better detection. You can also start the online darts scorer and tap your darts until the cameras are up.

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