Winmau's parent company has moved to directly address growing backlash over the Blade X dartboard, with Nodor Group CEO Tom Brown insisting the data tells a different story. Speaking on Oche180, Brown pushed back firmly on the narrative surrounding the board's performance. "Statistically, the Blade X has fewer bounce-outs than there's been on any board before," Brown said, adding that the company has already published internal figures supporting that claim.
The scrutiny around the Blade X has been driven largely by high-profile moments on television, where bounce-outs in major matches have quickly circulated across social media. Even top PDC pros such as Gabriel Clemens have been outspoken, with the former World Darts Championship semi-finalist calling the boards an "absolute disaster". But Brown suggested that perception may not always match reality, particularly when it comes to what is actually being classified as a bounce-out. "Every time we see a dart on the floor, a lot of people put it down to a bounce out," he explained. "I think a lot of the time the board has been criticised, but so often it can be hitting another dart, hitting a flight, or in fact hitting the wiring."
At the heart of Winmau's defence is the Blade X's construction, which the company maintains has been specifically engineered to reduce deflections and improve dart retention. "We have the narrowest wiring on the board in the industry. It's on an angle like this to really avoid any deflections or any bounce outs," Brown said. While acknowledging that bounce-outs can never be completely eliminated, he stressed that the overall trend points in the opposite direction to the current criticism. "But, of course, these things do happen. But statistically, the Blade X has fewer bounce outs than there's been on any board before."
Despite that firm stance, the conversation around the Blade X is unlikely to fade any time soon. The combination of constant television exposure, slow-motion replays and heightened expectations around a premium product has created a feedback loop where every visible bounce-out adds to the narrative. For now, Winmau are standing firmly behind both the data and the design, maintaining that there is no underlying issue with the board.
