BLOG: First enjoyable steps in soft-tip with the Nexus dartboard

I had not played soft-tip for about fifteen years. I used to have an electronic dartboard in my room when I was very young, but it was swapped for a 'real' steel-tip dartboard very quickly. Over the last three weeks I have been playing on the Nexus now. The device automatically calculates all your scores and there are also many features on this system. When I opened the package I found a card with a code on it. Through an app on a mobile players can redeem the code and connect to the online network of the Nexus. With the online mode, you can play against all other Nexus users in the world. A webcam and microphone are built into the Nexus, so you can view and communicate with your opponents as well. This increases the fun of playing online soft-tip. You can play five different game modes online. A game of 501 (with or without double checkout), 701 or 701 Master Out (finish with double or treble) and a game of cricket. I decided to do normal 501 for my first online game. Matchmaking connected me with an Asian player and he demolished me with a 12-dart leg. I hit an average just over sixty, which is pretty good for my standards. It was about ten points higher then my averages during the PDC Development Tour, which . Of course I realise that it is easier to hit higher averages in soft-tip, because the trebles are bigger. But still, numbers are numbers and seeing progress in averages is always fun.

In the single-player mode of Nexus, the possibilities are even more diverse than online. You can play matches against yourself, a game against three friends, cricket and various games. There is a race against the clock, where you have to throw as many points as possible in one minute. Another option is that you can see how long you take to score an X number of points. The nice thing about the Nexus is that a lot of statistics from your played matches are stored in the previously described app. All your averages are saved in this app, so you can easily see if you are getting better in soft-tip. For example; on Friday December 7, I played a total of 24 legs in single player mode. The statistics show that I threw an average of 14.31 points per dart (42.93 per turn) in my worst leg. In my best leg I hit an average of 31.31 per dart, which is 93.33 per turn. Overall my average was 20.35 per dart, which is the same as 61.15 per three darts. Every year a number of big soft-tip tournaments are played. Most events are played in Asia, but every year there is also a trip to France, where they place a Dartslive Open in La Rochelle. I would like to play there once, just to see how these tournaments work. I expect this event will be on the schedule again mid 2019. If I decide to go there, of course I will share my experiences in a new blog on this website!