Martin Schindler has gone from almost missing the European Championship to reaching the first televised PDC major final in German darts history, having struggled badly with confidence and his throwing action for much of 2026.

There's been plenty of discussion around his work with mental coach Johannes Lipsius, and the improvement in Dortmund was striking, particularly his doubling against Jonny Clayton.

The question now is whether Schindler can finally start producing those performances consistently away from German-speaking crowds. With the Grand Slam and World Championship approaching, could this be the breakthrough that takes him into regular contention for major titles?

Ross Smith is now a three-time major winner, with two of those titles coming this year, and has climbed to world number six. Meanwhile, Michael van Gerwen has dropped to 13th after another early exit at the European Championship.

The Premier League selection debate on the latest DartsNews Podcast raised an interesting problem. If Littler, Humphries, Van Veen, Price, Clayton, Smith and Wade are the seven strongest candidates, that potentially leaves Van Gerwen competing with Rock, Bunting, Aspinall and Nijman for one final place.

None of those four has made an undeniable case either, which might be Van Gerwen's biggest advantage.

But should that be enough? If Smith's results make him impossible to overlook, how much longer should Van Gerwen's past achievements guarantee him a place ahead of players outperforming him now?

Hey everyone!

I'm Andy, one of the two developers behind Throwcade, a new arcade-style darts app we've been building.

We wanted to make playing darts at home a bit more fun, whether you're practising on your own, playing with friends or just fancy something different from the usual 501.

What is Throwcade?

It's a growing collection of darts games, mixing traditional formats with arcade-style games we've invented ourselves.

Here's what's in it so far:

- 🎯 Arcade darts games with different challenges, rules and ways to win

- Classic darts, including X01 and other familiar formats

- Online multiplayer so you can play with friends remotely

- Achievements, player stats and friends lists

- Off-board games you can play straight from your phone

- Automatic scoring using your phone's camera, which we're actively developing and improving

We've already got a web beta running, but we're now getting our Android and iOS apps into testers' hands.

We're looking for testers!

Whether you're a complete beginner, casual pub player or play darts competitively, we'd love your help.

We're particularly interested in feedback on the games, usability, bugs and how well everything works across different phones.

It's free to test, and we're a tiny team of two building this because we love darts. We're not expecting glowing reviews. We genuinely want to know what works, what doesn't and what you'd like us to build next.

Interested?

You can sign up for the Android or iOS beta here:

https://throwcade.com/testers

Thanks for giving it a look! 🎯

My Dartslive rating has been stalling for a while without much improvements, so I've decided to increase the stress level of my practice my playing Eagle's Eye mode under the practice tab.

And just like that, I hit a Hat Trick! Shame that this isn't my high score of this mode (275).

Hi everyone, I'm Daniel, the developer of HeyDarts. I'd like to share the beta and hear what fellow darts players think.

HeyDarts uses a Raspberry Pi and three cameras around a steel-tip board to detect throws and keep score. The game screen runs in a browser on a tablet, laptop or TV. It also supports online games with friends, tournaments, training modes, stats and an AI coach. Incorrect detections can be corrected using the camera images.

You need the board-side camera/Pi setup for automatic scoring; this isn't a phone-camera-only app. It's still beta, so I'd especially appreciate feedback on setup, scoring corrections and what you need for everyday practice.

Every account gets two weeks of Pro access to try the AI features. Those features cost me money to run, so continued Pro access after the trial is intended to be paid to help cover those costs.

Details: https://heydarts.io/go/dartstalk

What would you want to know before trying a setup like this? Happy to answer questions here.

Hey zusammen,

beim Darts hab ich immer zu lange gebraucht, um meine drei Darts zusammenzurechnen. Deshalb hab ich mir ein kleines Trainingsspiel gebaut: DartSum.

Drei Felder auf der Scheibe sind markiert, und du hast 10 Sekunden für die Summe (Double = ×2, Triple = ×3).

• Solo-Training mit Statistik nach Feldtyp (Single/Double/Triple/Bull)
• 1v1-Duelle gegen Freunde oder zufällige Gegner
• Gruppen mit ELO-Ranking, z. B. für den eigenen Verein
• eine tägliche Challenge mit denselben Boards für alle
• Bots in drei Schwierigkeitsstufen

Alles ist kostenlos, ohne Werbung und ohne In-App-Käufe. Es ist ein reines Hobbyprojekt ohne Gewinnabsicht.

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6792255088
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.april4.dartsum
Web: https://dartsum.berlin3dstudio.com

Ich entwickle das Spiel nebenbei weiter. Wenn euch etwas fehlt oder etwas hakt, schreibt es gern in die Kommentare!

Luke Humphries has nine individual PDC majors, a total only four players have bettered. Add the Triple Crown, and where does that put him among the greatest to play the game?

“On pure ability, Luke Humphries is almost guaranteed top ten” prompted an “even higher than that” from Nicolas Gayer on this week’s DartsNews Podcast. But does sharing an era with Luke Littler affect how we judge him? Humphries lost five straight major finals before winning the Grand Prix, four against Littler. Do those defeats count against his standing, or could we be underestimating how good he’s been because someone else keeps lifting the trophy?

Where would you rank him? Already comfortably top ten, potentially higher, or does he still need another world title and more years at the top?

Mensur Suljovic was happy to get the crowd going while Ross Smith threw match darts, happy to celebrate the misses, then told Smith he should stay at home and made derogatory comments about women. “Swiss Phil” Brzezinski called him out on stage, but he still doubled down.

Then, the next day, a complete U-turn and a formal apology. “It’s clear someone has pulled him aside and said: ‘You need to apologise’” is the verdict from the DartsNews Podcast. A genuine change of heart, or someone stepping in after his defiant interview went down so badly?

What did you make of the whole Suljovic debacle? Typical Mensur antics, or something more this time? Was the complete U-turn genuine, damage control, or an apology he shouldn’t have needed to make if he hadn’t broken the rules?

If both players are outside the 25 do you start again or try measure who was furthest away?

Shit is as soft as Cuesoul ROST Integrated Flights. I hope they don't ended up with plastic deformation bending.

Gary Anderson has pulled out of Basel this weekend, his European Championship hopes are fading and his Minehead place is far from secure after missing the last six Players Championship events. As a result, we could see very little of him before Alexandra Palace.

He’s still reached a World Championship semi-final and the Budapest final this year. On this week’s DartsNews Podcast, I even compared him to WWE’s The Undertaker in his later years, saving his appearances for WrestleMania like a special attraction. Ally Pally could become Anderson’s version of that, with opponents still having every reason to fear drawing him, despite the lack of regular match practice.

Anderson has pushed back against retirement suggestions, with family commitments taking priority. He accepts that could cost him places at tournaments, although there’s also the question of how sharp he can stay with longer gaps between appearances.

Does this feel like Anderson gradually stepping away, or could he carry on for years picking his moments and still challenging for titles?

Better news: it's during the Halloween event Half-it missions.

Bad news: it's a D15.

Mitchell Lawrie has just won a senior Europe Cup singles title at 15, but he’s still too young for the Development Tour. At the other end, players can remain eligible through the year they turn 24. Does that age range still make sense for where darts is now?

Monday’s World Youth Championship, where Luke Littler reached the semi-finals, prompted our discussion on this week’s DartsNews Podcast. The call was for reform across both competitions: opening the door earlier for emerging players, lowering the upper age limit and extending the Development Tour’s top-64 exclusion to the World Youth Championship.

There’s also the question of what these events should offer: established Tour Card holders can use the Development Tour as another route to the World Championship while younger prospects are still waiting to become eligible.

With players breaking through earlier, and the day's of darts being an old man's game seemingly over... surely it's time the PDC update their outdated youth system?

A few weeks ago the conversation around Luke Littler was about how much of 2026 he might end up winning. Three high-profile defeats later, there’s suddenly a lot more talk about whether he looks vulnerable.

One point that came up on this week’s DartsNews Podcast is that there’s another way of looking at it. Littler seems to see pretty much everything said about him and doesn’t forget much either, so there is the argument that all this extra noise could give him another point to prove just as the Grand Slam and Ally Pally start coming into view.

Do you think the last few weeks have genuinely changed anything, or could this end up being exactly the sort of thing that fires him up again?

I’m not sure where to even start with these two sets other than the set on the right , possibly a Harrows set. Let me know if you have a guess or if you know , it would be appreciated. Thanks

Used - came in with Hammerhead points and trying to find Laser - Black Widow points. What did they come out with originally ? I had seen ,Voks Fulcrum will work ,but would still like to know what they came with originally . Does anyone know, thanks