Did you have a dartboard when you were younger? Of course you did, in fact, you’ve probably got one in your gaming cave or garage right now. It was a right of passage; even if you couldn’t legally drink as a teenager, you could play the classic pub game and get practice for the day that you were able to enter a bar and show off your skills. Even for people like me and Brandon who don’t drink, it’s just a fun game to play and one that I envy people who have the hand-eye coordination to be able to consistently hit treble 20.
The thing is, the dartboard hasn’t had an upgrade in a long time. And now you’re thinking, ‘Why does it need one? It’s a dartboard – it does what it’s supposed to do.’ Well, you’re right, but what if I told you you could have a Game Boy-like console on your wall that used electronic darts and Nerf bullets, both with chips inside, to play all manner of different games with friends? Yes, it’s a dart board for the modern tech age that won’t put holes in your walls, and someone will probably mod it to put Doom on it within 10 seconds of it releasing. Meet Pixeldarts, the latest Kickstarter project from Dartsnut!
Dartsnut is an offshoot of Chessnut who have created some serious enhancements to the way we play chess in 2024, and they certainly know how to reel in the retro gamers after looking at their new product. I mean, the design was obviously going to catch our attention; with the colour and general button design of the original Game Boy, this thing is certainly going to appeal to nostalgia hunters looking for some multiplayer action. The video above kind of reminds me of the feeling I get when I play the Nintendo Wii with friends, and the three game modes the advert shows will certainly appeal to those who like to have mates over or host parties.
Play standard darts, get your friends to join in for colour match darts, and shoot Nerf bullets at enemies on the screen – Dartsnut have gone in strong with their first few offerings on Pixeldarts, and with the options to design your own games on it (another reason why I think someone will add Doom to it within seconds), it’s certainly an interesting device which I’m looking forward to documenting in greater detail once it drops. I’m a big fan of the automatic scoring system too – maths isn’t my strong point!
I like the fact that the Pixeldarts display is a large and fancy feature piece for any room too; it looks stylish and can display animations and widgets that compliment your decor, definitely something to quote to convince your other half if they’re not into gaming. The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W that powers the device is also capable of generating pixel art using ChatGPT to help you prepare for special celebrations or just for making silly messages for other people to find.
The campaign starts on Kickstarter at the end of November, so make sure to bookmark the page or sign up for launch notifications.
