Playing darts is fun. However, throwing darts at the same target over and over doesn’t really work well for today’s overstimulated minds. We definitely need a little more distraction than a static board can offer. The Dartsnut Pixeldarts takes the traditional dart game and turns it into a more versatile electronic game.
Designed for mounting up a wall, the game gives you a large display that can transform into a dartboard for a traditional game of darts. Since it’s electronic, though, you’re not stuck with a static dartboard. Instead, it comes with animations that should make the game more lively, all while being able to transform into other games entirely.
The Dartsnut Pixeldarts looks like an oversized gaming handheld with a 21-inch touchscreen on top, along with a pair of buttons, a D-pad, and a smaller touchscreen at the bottom. When used to play darts, it shows a standard dartboard on the big screen, with player scores shown at the smaller bottom screen. Instead of using traditional darts with sharp tips, though, it uses custom darts with soft tips designed to stick to the screen surface, so you can throw it safely without worrying about damaging the display. According to the outfit, the darts are designed to feel and act like traditional darts, all while coming with built-in sensor chips that enable it to precisely detect where each dart hits on the board.
Since the darts come with built-in electronics, the system can detect which darts are hitting where, allowing the game to assign points accurately, even if all players start throwing their darts at the same time. Aside from traditional dart games, the system also comes with other throwing games that you can play using the darts, including Splash (a dart-based territory game), Spin the Wheel (throw the dart at a spinning wheel and you get the prize your dart hits), and Mini Golf (dart throws control the golf ball’s direction). There are also shooting games designed to work with Nerf blasters, essentially letting you use your favorite foam dart shooter as a game controller.
The Dartsnut Pixeldarts run on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B board computer, with a 1.8GHz quad-core Arm Cortex SOC, 1GB of RAM, and 32GB of microSD storage. The board computer is designed to be removable, too, making it easy to upgrade if a newer compatible version comes out. All preloaded games on the system, by the way, are designed with a retro pixelated aesthetic, which gives it quite the charming overall aesthetic.
Aside from the preloaded games, the system is also compatible with the PICO-8 Fantasy Console, so you can use it as an even more versatile gaming machine. Do note, you’ll need to connect a gamepad via USB if you’re going to use PICO-8, since none of those games are programmed to work with suction darts or Nerf blasters. Other features include 10 preloaded games on launch, wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0), a built-in mic, a 5W mono speaker, and an open ecosystem that lets you code your own games and widgets for the system.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Dartsnut Pixeldarts. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $220.