Darting ahead of the game-playing field

Peter McCormick with the new board. Picture / Alan Gibson

Puma Darts is expecting business to skyrocket when it launches its electronic dartboard next year.

The Katikati company is finetuning the E-Dart board, which automatically detects dart positions and calculates players' scores.

Managing director Peter McCormick said eliminating the need for arithmetic would bring a whole new generation of people into the sport.

"The issue with the game for many people is that it's heavily involved with maths.

"People don't do maths in their heads like they used to and many struggle with the numbers. This will take that away."

It would also broaden the game's appeal to younger people who liked computer games and new technology.

E-Dart will be launched at ISPO, the world's biggest sporting goods expo, in Munich next year.

The company is confident of doubling its export business in the years ahead.

Puma already exports to 66 countries and has cornered a 30 per cent share of the world market in the quality product range.

E-Dart could mean up to 15 more jobs at the Puma factory, one of the biggest employers in Katikati.

The only dart and dart-board manufacturer in New Zealand, Puma churns out about 70,000 boards and three million single darts a year.

It makes seven models of boards and almost 400 models of darts. Its biggest seller, the Bandit bristle dartboard, is acknowledged as the best in the world by top international players and will be used at the World Cup for darts in September, an event Puma has sponsored for the past four tournaments.

Rather than using traditional round wire and staples to divide up the scoring sections, the Bandit board uses patented knife-edge stainless steel "spider", so darts slide either side and still score, rather than bouncing off, increasing the playing surface.

To create E-Dart, Puma has inlaid a PC board into the back of the Bandit board. Sensory chips - similar to those used in touch-screen technology - detect where a standard dart lands. The board then automatically calculates and displays the players' score.

A range of models are planned, some with voice options and others that could heckle players, play music or advise on the best combinations to win the game. In time, it could also allow two players on opposite sides of the world to play each other.

Puma Darts has spent $300,000 developing the product. That is likely to rise to $500,000 by the time it gets to market.

The company has received about $60,000 in investment support from Government research and development funding agency Technology New Zealand.

Although it is technically ready, E-Dart's launch has been held up as the company tries to source the electronic components more cheaply, to make it commercially viable.

The exchange rate is not helping.

McCormick was targeting a retail price of $199, twice the price of the Bandit board, but said it looked likely to be double that at the moment.

E-Dart will a big iron in the fire for the company.

"All major players in the industry know how important it is to the sport for someone to get a viable working electronic board," said McCormick.

He hopes it will open the door to new markets and opportunities for the company his father, John, started from a home garage 35 years ago.

One of these will be breaking into Britain. Puma has not yet penetrated the market, which is dominated by old English brands, but McCormick said E-Dart would give them a product British retailers would need to stock and, hopefully, this would pave the way for the rest of the range.

The US is Puma's largest export market, followed by the Netherlands - the world's hot-bed for darts - then Australia and South Africa.

Despite the high exchange rate slowing the company's growth in recent years, annual growth had remained steady at 8 to 10 per cent, and it is targeting the same rate for the year ahead.

"With the exchange rate being like it as the moment, we're getting an extreme hiding on price. It's challenging," said McCormick.

This was one of the major factors in moving 30 per cent of its production to China two years ago. Puma's lower-end products are now made there.

Although he does not want to, McCormick said he might have to move more production overseas if pricing pressures continued.

Puma was now the only Western dartboard-maker, after British group Nodor-Winmau shifted its production to Kenya two years ago.

Finding skilled staff has been another big challenge to staying local.

Machine tool setters were particularly hard to find, here and overseas. McCormack has two on staff, but needs at least four.

With only 5000 registered players in New Zealand, it seemed like a small market for darts. "But the real market is the people who play darts in the garage at home."

This is the type of game McCormick enjoys.

Although patron of the New Zealand Dart Council, he has never played competitively.

High-tech game

* Puma Darts is making the game of darts high-tech with its electronic dartboard.
* The E-Dart board will automatically calculate and display players' scores, eliminating the need for mental arithmetic.
* It will be launched next year once the product is commercialised.