Review: Darts Scorer

Published by Steve Litchfield at 16:02 UTC, January 15th 2012

Summary:

You may remember the developer's name from Mobile Darts, which I reviewed last year? This has now been updated but, in case you're wondering, many of the same criticisms apply to the new version. But while Darts Scorer stays with the same theme, it's an application designed to help you play the real world game. And, although somewhat primitive in interface, may be helpful to those for whom mental maths is not their strongpoint.

A brief recap of the problem in hand when playing darts though - I'll leave aside the basics of scoring darts - suffice it to say that for most turns, each consisting of three darts, you (or your playing opponent) end up with three numbers (e.g. "18", "20", "treble-5") and standard practice is to add these up in your head (in this case 53) and then deduct this total from the amount remaining on your account on a blackboard or whiteboard next to the dart board. So, if your account was at 301 (one of the popular starting scores), you'd mentally subtract 53 and get to 248. You'd then write down 248 underneath the previous score, so that you, your opponent and everyone watching can check what you've done and know what amount remains.

Now, if you can add three darts scores together in under five seconds and subtract this total from your remaining amount in under another five seconds then your mental maths is good enough to fit in with the flow of the real game. However, I've been in many games where one or more parties wasn't up to this task and it was left to me or another with a numerical mind to 'keep score'.

Or one of the people present could simply use Darts Scorer. As you might expect, you simply tap on the grid to indicate where each dart went and the application does all the maths for you:

 

 

 

You start a new game by choosing the game total (e.g. 301) and any special in/out rules: 'Open in/out' means that you can start on any dart and finish on any dart to make up the remaining amount (without going over, of course); 'Double in/out' means that you have to start and finish on a double; and 'Master in/out' refers, I think, to starting and finishing on a treble, though if you know better then please comment!

Unfortunately, you can't opt for just plain 'double out', the single most common rule variant (as featured on TV), where you start with any dart and then finish on a double. Maybe this omission reflects darts in the developer's home country, but it's certainly an unfortunate one as it means that 95% of the games played in UK pubs (for example) can't be accurately scored without fudging the opening score for each player. Disappointing.

Entering player names is as easy as typing in their names and tapping the '+' icon (though note that these aren't saved once you exit the application, so you'll have to type them in again next time too) and then it's onto the green 'play' icon and it's up to the 'oche'.

As you enter dart scores, they're shown on the screen, both as flags on the appropriate buttons and as totals, so you can always see what you've got left. Any scores over 100 get a 'Woohoo' sound effect which - being honest - gets a little tiresome - a simply round of applause sound effect would have worked better.

As the amount remaining for each player gets under 170, 'check outs' become possible in Darts, of course, combinations of throws which add up to the amount while still finishing on a double (or bullseye). Dart scoring applications on other platforms maintain a little database of these and offer them up to help the player, but there's nothing here, sadly - definitely something else for version 2?

 

 

 

And that's basically it - when one player clears their amount remaining while finishing on a double they've won and there's confirmation on-screen... followed by the inevitable tap on the play icon again, to start a new game (perhaps accompanied by the statement "The next round of beers is on you", addressed to one of your playing partners?)

Although only two players are shown here, you can add as many as you like - I've certainly played four or five handers in the real world, at which point a darts blackboard starts to become insanely cramped and messy - a scenario where a smartphone app would shine.

Aside from the showstopping flaw that you can't have a normal 'single in, double out' game, there are a few possible, more conceptual flaws to worry about, too. Firstly, it's ok keeping score on a phone, I mean you're a geek. But unless you're playing other geeks, they'll think you a bit odd to want to use Darts Scorer. Say you get past this social barrier, there's the issue that your phone screen is small and also keeps timing out - it's hard for more than a couple of people to keep an eye on the scores - what about other people in the pub, interested in the game? What about the people waiting to play the next game? In each case, a blackboard is perfect because it's highly visible - your smartphone less so.

Finally, there's a very valid argument that says that it's good to practice your mental maths - it'll keep your brain agile, develop arithmetic skills that will make you more productive in other areas of your life and, well, make you faster at getting those darts scores on the blackboard...

All good points, but the biggie is still that rules problem. Fix that and this would score in the 70s, in that it largely does what it claims to do. But at the moment, it really isn't a lot of use down at 'The Nag's Head'. Sorry.

Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 15 January 2012

 

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