Arachnid Cricket Professional 650 Standing Digital Dartboards with 24 Video games, 132 Variations, and 6 Gentle-Tip Darts Included

So Much Fun!
This dartboard required patience to receive and assemble. The first one I received appeared to be a return. The box had one strap around it and the rest was patched together with a lot of tape. Inside, the components were piled into the box and were scratched and chipped. I ordered a replacement, but UPS didn’t even bother to deliver that one. Apparently, the box was sufficiently damaged that they returned it to sender. Luckily, the third time was the charm. The box had a couple of holes in it, but all in all it was okay, secured by 2 straps, and did not appear to be a return.We had one problem with the very top piece of the cabinet. The instructions said to screw 4 screws into the factory installed inserts, but two of the inserts were crooked. One was so bad that it split the wood as we were tightening the screw. However, we were able to glue and clamp the crack, and then maneuvered the screw and insert a bit to secure it. Since it’s the top piece and not weight bearing, it seems to be fine and doesn’t impact the integrity of the cabinet.As for the rest of the cabinet, I expected it to be a bit light and wobbly based on many of the reviews. This is not the case at all. It is very stable. The shelves screw into the sides and back (rather than being adjustable and just laying on pins), which adds to the cabinet’s stability. We have it sitting on low-pile carpeting, and it’s sturdy and secure WITHOUT securing it to the wall. Since the bottom sticks out a bit from the wall due to the baseboard, we attached 2 Everbilt door stops (see pic) to the top of the cabinet. These rest against the wall, serving as bumpers to keep the cabinet resting solidly against the wall, and also serving as spacers to hold the top part of the cabinet away from the wall the same distance as the bottom of the cabinet.One other tip. There will inevitably be some scuffs and scratches on the boards because the pieces are not individually wrapped. However, these are very easy to touch up with a Minwax stain marker in ebony. It takes only a few minutes to touch up the scuffs and looks great. (A Sharpie works but isn’t as good of a color match. The ebony Minwax matches really well.)If you are considering this dartboard, don’t be dissuaded by the negative reviews. Just understand that it will require patience to assemble. Once that’s done, it’s well worth the effort.

Lots of fun for teenagers
This unit is quite nice. I have nothing to compare it to since this is my first experience with an electronic dart board. Overall, I do like it because it’s fun to play with the family.Positives: It looks nice once built. The electronic dart board performs very well, and as I said it is fun to play with my 3 teenage boys.Negatives: Assembly takes some time and more importantly patience. Instructions are OK, but the screws are kind of soft (cheap) and will strip with an electric or battery operated drive, so be careful with that and set the speed very low. Also, once the unit was assembled, the top part (which contains the dart board) was slightly tilted forward. It seemed obvious to me that this would not last long. Fortunately, I was putting this in an unfinished basement that had a wall studded out. I simply used the L bracket that came with the unit and braced it to the studded wall. Problem solved.The other issue is that the darts that come with the unit are horrible. They lasted about 1 hour. We went to Dick’s sporting goods and got some nice replacement darts.Bottom Line: I would recommend this, but would advise using additional support for the top part via an “L” bracket and some screws directly to a stud or some other hardware to secure to top piece to the bottom. I’d also advise in purchasing other darts for the game. Everything else seems good. Plenty of storage space in this unit, not just for darts, but whatever else you want.Update 1/1/2015Ordered some new darts from Amazon. I had purchased some from Target and Dick’s but they too were not very durable.These arrived a couple of days ago and they are good. They’re a bit light weight, but durable. No more tightening things on the dart after every shot. I played 3 games of cricket with my 13 year old son and he had one bent tip that he replaced on his, but mine were still good….and we’re not pros.Set of Twelve Brass 2ba 16gm Soft Tip Darts, 100 Black Dart Tips, & Dart Wrenchby Billiard Evolutionhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YPXZFK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Follow directions carefully and you will have a cabinet that will last
I was sceptical about the reviews when I purchased, but I’m glad I did. The material is flimsy and is partical board, but once put together it looks like an impressive high dollar game. I didn’t have to anchor it to the wall because if you follow the directions, it’s sturdy enough to stand alone. Even tho it is made of cheap material, if you don’t abuse it, jerk out the darts, or beat it to death, this cabinet will last. I have used several times with friends and it is still brand new. You will have to purchase a cabinet light and new darts, the darts are very cheap and will breaks after a few uses. Definitely a good alternative to a $4000 arcade machine. I would recommend.