Are Soft Tip Darts Safe?

Soft tip darts leagues are popular in the United States, parts of Asia and Canada.  European countries, such as Germany also enjoy playing soft tip darts and it can be a lot of fun but are soft tip darts safe?

When playing with soft tip darts, an electronic dartboard is used and the darts land in a small hole on the board, which keeps them in place. These holes are very small and there are several in each segment, so even the trebles allow good scoring.

The points of soft tip darts are usually made from plastic and can bend to allow them to easily slide into the holes in the dartboard. You can immediately see the difference between soft tip darts and steel tip darts.

Since it is made of plastic, a soft tip dart is not going to land in the wall or bounce out and stick in your nice wooden floor. In terms of your wall, floor, and furniture, soft tip darts are safe because they will not pierce them like a steel tip dart.

That’s not to say a soft tip dart will not cause any damage if it missed the board or lands on the floor. The barrel of soft tip darts could be made from brass or tungsten and feature aluminum shafts. If the dart happens to bounce out of the board and land on the floor, the barrel could leave a dent or scratch.

You should not play with soft tip darts believing you can 100% avoid damage to walls, floors or furniture but they are certainly safer than steel tip darts.

If you have young children who want to play darts, soft tip darts is a good way for them to start, especially if playing unsupervised. The plastic point of soft tip darts cannot pierce the skin like steel tip darts can and even if the soft tip dart bounces out of the board towards a player, there is nothing major to worry about in terms of injury unless it reaches the eye.

We can't say soft tip darts are 100% safe as they can still cause some damage to people due to the barrel that is often made of metal. However, the chances of being injured by a soft tip dart in comparison to a steel tip dart are significantly lower.