What dartboards do professionals use?

The direct answer: professional players at PDC events throw at the Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core. Winmau took over as the PDC's official dartboard supplier in February 2022 on a five-year deal running to 2027, replacing Unicorn, whose Eclipse boards had been the televised board since 1997. The Blade 6 Triple Core is sold at retail in the same specification used on stage.

Two things follow from that, and they pull in opposite directions. The board the professionals use is genuinely available to you — no special edition, no tour-only specification. But the reasons it is specified for tournament play are not all reasons that apply to a wall in a basement.

It is worth being clear that a sponsorship change is a commercial event, not a verdict on board quality. Unicorn announced it would not renew; Winmau took the contract. Both companies make tournament-grade boards, and a player who prefers the older board is not making a mistake.

Two features define a professional-specification board, and only one of them clearly matters at home.

1. A very thin wire spider. The spider divides the segments, and every dart that strikes it is a dart that might bounce out. Thinner wire, mounted at a shallow angle and with no staple at the bullseye, deflects darts into the bed instead. This is the feature worth paying for at any level of play — a bounce-out is a scoring dart lost to hardware.
2. A dense, self-healing sisal bed. Compressed sisal closes around each hole as the dart is pulled. A denser core closes more completely and survives more throws before the bed starts to open up. This is the feature aimed at tournament use, where a board absorbs an enormous number of darts in a short period.

A home board does not see tournament throughput. If the board is played a few evenings a week, the bed will age from time and humidity roughly as fast as it ages from darts, which is why the standard version of the same board is the better value for most households.

Quick picks

Tap any row to jump to the full write-up.

#	Product	Best for	Price
1	The board the professionals use Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core Dartboard The official PDC tournament board, sold to the public in the same specification.	Players who want the board they watch on television	Check price on Amazon
2	The board that held the title before Unicorn Eclipse HD2 Pro Dartboard Unicorn's tournament board from the era when Unicorn supplied the PDC.	Players who prefer the Unicorn bed and spider	Check price on Amazon
3	The sensible home version Winmau Blade 6 Bristle Dartboard The same spider design without the triple-core density, for most of the benefit.	Home players who want the pro bounce-out behavior at a lower price	Check price on Amazon

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1. The board the professionals use

Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core Dartboard

Winmau

Winmau became the PDC's official dartboard supplier in February 2022 under a five-year agreement running to 2027, replacing Unicorn after a 25-year partnership. The board specified in that deal is the Blade 6 Triple Core, and it is used across PDC events — the televised majors plus the European Tour, Players Championships, Challenge Tour, Development Tour and Women's Series.

It is the same model sold at retail. That is unusual and worth saying plainly: in most sports the professional equipment is a different specification from the consumer version, and in darts it genuinely is not. The board on the stage at the World Championship is the board you can hang in a garage.

What you are paying for is the construction. The triple-core build is denser than a standard bristle board, which closes more tightly around each dart, and the wire spider is unusually thin so darts deflect into the bed rather than bouncing off the wire. Both of those are the same things that matter at home.

What we like

• The official PDC tournament board through to 2027
• Very thin wire spider — markedly fewer bounce-outs
• Dense triple-core sisal that self-heals and lasts
• Made to World Darts Federation specifications

Worth knowing

• The most expensive board most home players will consider
• The density advantage is wasted if the board is played twice a year
• No scoring — steel tip boards never have any

Who it’s wrong for

A household that plays occasionally and wants automatic scoring. An electronic board is a better fit — see bristle vs electronic.

Check price on Amazon

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2. The board that held the title before

Unicorn Eclipse HD2 Pro Dartboard

Unicorn

Unicorn supplied the PDC's televised dartboards from 1997 to 2022, and the Eclipse line was the board of that era. The HD2 revision reduced the wire thickness between the trebles, which enlarged the usable treble 20 and the bullseye — the same design goal Winmau pursues from a different direction.

Losing a sponsorship is not the same as being outclassed. This is still a tournament-grade board with a thin spider and a dense bed, and some players simply prefer how the Unicorn bed takes a dart. If you throw on one at a club and like it, buy it.

What we like

• Tournament-grade board with a long professional pedigree
• Reduced wire thickness around the trebles and bull
• Dense sisal bed with good dart retention
• Often a little cheaper than the current official board

Worth knowing

• No longer the officially specified PDC board
• Premium price for a home board
• Differences from the current official board are small

Who it’s wrong for

Someone who specifically wants the board currently on television. That is the Blade 6 Triple Core.

Check price on Amazon

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3. The sensible home version

Winmau Blade 6 Bristle Dartboard

Winmau

The thing that makes the tournament board good at home is the thin wire, not the core density. The spider is what causes or prevents bounce-outs, and the standard Blade 6 carries the same blade-style wiring as its triple-core sibling.

What you lose is the denser bed, which matters most under constant play — a board being thrown at for hours a day wears faster, and the triple core is the answer to that. A home board that sees a few hundred games a year will not reach that limit before the wire and the bed age anyway.

For most households this is the better buy, and we say so on our main roundup too. The pro board is not a trap, it is just more board than a home wall needs.

What we like

• The same thin blade-style spider that reduces bounce-outs
• Staple-free bullseye, removing the worst bounce-out point
• Noticeably cheaper than the triple-core version
• Widely available with easy replacement

Worth knowing

• Less dense bed — wears faster under heavy daily play
• Not the officially specified tournament board
• Still a premium purchase against a budget board

Who it’s wrong for

A player practising for hours daily, who will see the benefit of the denser core.

Check price on Amazon

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The honest summary: buy the professional board if you want the professional board. It is a genuinely excellent board and there is nothing wrong with owning the one you watch on television. Just do not expect it to improve your average — the thin spider will reduce your bounce-outs, and that is the whole of the measurable benefit.

• Tungsten darts, individually chosen. Weight, barrel shape and grip are personal, and professional players use the barrel that suits their hand rather than a universally best dart. The same logic applies at home — see best steel tip darts.
• A proper oche and a measured throw distance. 7ft 9.25in from the face of the board to the near edge of the throw line, with the bullseye at 5ft 8in.
• Even, shadow-free lighting. Stage boards are lit from several directions precisely so the player casts no shadow across the segments.
• Wall protection. Less visible on television, and the thing most home setups skip. A cabinet or a surround keeps plaster intact — see dartboard cabinets.
• A rotated board. Wear concentrates in the treble 20. Rotating the board spreads it and is free.