Digital Steel Certification

Digital Steel Certification Program

Run Your Own DartConnect Events!

Once certified you’ll earn the ability to create your own on-demand events, for either in-person or online competition.

See our FAQ at the bottom of this page for additional details and answers to frequently asked questions.

Single-Stage Events

1. Round Robin (Group Play)
2. Elimination (Knockout)

Multi-Stage Events

1. RR to Single Knockout
2. RR to Multiple KO Brackets
(Winners & Consolation)
3. RR to Winner’s RR

Supported Games

301 Double-In, Double-Out
501 Straight-In, Double-Out
Cricket
+ Over 12 Other Games!

NEW! Double Elimination Now Available!

For more details, CLICK HERE.

Already Certified?

Need a Custom Event?

Digital Steel supports a wide variety of formats and competitions.

Request a Custom Event

Become Digital Steel Certified

In 3 Easy Steps!

No Registration Fees! Plus 2 Free Events To Get Your Feet Wet…

Step 1

Pay It Forward

Step 2

Practice Makes Perfect

Self guided training with a simulated Digital Steel practice tournament

FREE*

Step 3

Dress Rehearsal

Run 2 Small & Informal Live Tournaments for Additional Experience

FREE*

A Premium DartConnect Membership is Required

Get Started Now

Pricing

$1 (USD) Per Person, Per Event

* You’ll be able to run 2 FREE EVENTS as part of the certification process afterwards standard rates will appy.

Online competitions require all entries to have either a FREE Guest Account or a Paid Premium Membership.

DartConnect recommends that all participants provide a valid email address for in-person competitions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much experience do I need?

DartConnect highly recommends that you have at least some prior experience running darts competitions before entering the Digital Steel Certification program.

This may include, but is not limited to:

Prior use of other software (ex: challonge, compusport, brackalope, etc.) is not required but will be very helpful in learning how to use DartConnect Digital Steel.

Your level of experience will determine how quickly and easily you will complete the certification process. If you have never run a competition before, we recommend you work alongside an experienced tournament director before attempting to run your own.

How much does it cost?

Becoming Digital Steel certified is FREE. There is no registration fee to participate, but please note:

We do require a $5 charitable donation to enter the program in support of important global health initiatives
A DartConnect Premium membership ($2/month) is required to enroll
You will receive 2 free events as part of the certification process, after which standard event fees will apply ($1 USD per entry)
Events will be billed on a monthly basis and sent via email to the address listed on the account used
All events held during the billing period will be consolidated into a single invoice, due upon receipt

How do I access certification in my DartConnect account?

Log into your Premium Account on My DartConnect and go to the “Competition Organizer” section and click the “Go To My Events” button to begin the certification process.

Go To My DartConnect

Don’t have a premium membership?

Join Now!

Tell me more about the 2 FREE TRIAL events?

Upon completing the “practice” stage of certification, you’ll get a free 16-entry event as a “dress rehearsal” tournament to do with “friends and family.”

After you’ve finished the first free event, your first “real” event for up to 64 entries will also be free.

After completing the second free event, you’ll have completed the certification process and standard fees will apply to future events.

Can I do Blind Draw Pairs (aka "Luck of the Draw") events?

YES, blind draw format is available.

For blind draws, players are entered as individuals and the system will automatically create random pairings for doubles teams.

If you want to do a “Jack & Jill” or “Pro-Am,” you can run this as a standard doubles event by manually doing pairings offline, then entering them as teams into the tournament.

What is Jack & Jill? If you have an even number of men and women, you randomly pair a man and a woman together so that all teams are mixed gender.

What is a Pro-Am draw? If you have a player ranking system, you randomly pair a high ranked player with a lower ranked player so that all teams are mixed skill.

Are there any limitations or restrictions for events?

Digital Steel on-demand events are subject to the following limitations:

Tournament formats are currently limited to following:
- Single Elimination Knockout Bracket
- Double Elimination Knockout Bracket
- Knockout Bracket & Consolation Knockout Bracket
- Single Stage Round Robin
- Round Robin advancing to a Knockout Bracket
- Round Robin advancing to another Round Robin
- Single Round Robin advancing to a Winners Knockout and a Consolation Knockout
- Single Round Robin to a Double Elimination Knockout
For any of the above formats, you can create:
- Singles
- Doubles (Pairs)
- Blind Draw Doubles
- Triples
- Quads (4 vs 4)
After an event is started, it must be completed within 48 hours, after which time it will expire automatically
Practice Event and Trial Friends & Family events are singles competitions only. After the trial event is completed, you’ll have the ability to create doubles or blind draws using the Trial 2 event
Online tournament participants must have an active Free Guest Account OR paid Premium membership
A paid Premium Membership is required to become certified
There is NO LIMIT to the number of players that can participate

Can I choose how many legs to play in a match and the leg starting rules?

You can update any event’s match format inside the bracket program including # of legs, starting rules and more.

Default format for all events is “Best of 3 Legs, Bull Up Every Leg”
Make changes from the Event Hub or Tools menu by selecting “Review/Edit Match Format”
For Knockout brackets, you can change the number of legs for any specific round, such as finals, semifinals and quarterfinals
You can choose either “Best Of” or “Play All” legs

Match and leg starting rules can also be customized for each competition, including:

Random start, bull up or coin toss for first leg
Alternate remaining legs or Bull Up every leg
Bull up for deciding legs

Is the "Chicago" match format -OR- "501-Cricket-Choice" available?

YES, you can do the Chicago match format as well as 501-Cricket-Choice (aka “Cork Calls”).

To enable these formats, simply make sure you select ALL of the games you wish to include when creating your event. The selected games will appear in the game menu before every leg.

Game Menu – My Events supports the following games:

Click to Enlarge

What is the “Chicago Match Format” in darts?

There are many regional variations of this format, however below is what’s commonly agreed to as the traditional Chicago rules for darts:

A single set that is best of 3 legs (first to 2 wins)
Winner of the bull for the first leg shoots first and also selects the game for the first leg from any of the following: 501 SIDO, Cricket, or 301 DIDO
Once a game is played, it may not be picked again
Loser of the first leg shoots first in the second leg and picks the game from the remaining 2 game types
If the match is tied at 1-1, a tie breaker leg will be played
Winner of the bull shoots first and the game must be the only game that has not yet been played
Online games can use the coin toss feature or other method instead of a bull shot

Does Digital Steel support Double Elimination knockout brackets?

Double-Elimination Knockout Format is NOW AVAILABLE for My Events.

Many competitions offer extended elimination formats that provide more value for the player as well as keep them inside the sponsor venue longer.

DartConnect Digital Steel provides organizers with two knockout bracket options to extend playing time:

Double Elimination
Automated Consolation Bracket (requires less time commitment than DE)

What if the format I want is unavailable?

If your event requirements do not fit the preset formats and restrictions, please complete our custom event request form and a representative will follow up with you.

Event Request Form

Common reasons for requesting a custom event:

My event lasts longer than 48 hours
I need early access to set up the event in advance
I require player pre-registration
My event needs multiple competitions and I don’t want to create separate tournaments for each (example: I want one event that includes men’s and women’s singles and a blind draw)

What is a simulated practice tournament?

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!

Learn how to operate digital steel at your own pace with a practice event in our “sandbox” environment, a safe and non-public system for simulating a tournament.

After you’ve completed the practice, you’ll be able to create a trial event to conduct with friends and family as a “dress rehearsal” and final step before becoming certified.

Practice event format:

One Round Robin Group Play Event
One Single Elimination Knockout Event

You’ll learn how to:

Create a Digital Steel tournament and operate the Competition Software Program
Set up a Group Play Round Robin and Knockout event
Simulate playing matches in the scoring app
Rank players and manage tie-breakers from a Round Robin and advance players to a follow on knockout bracket

Tell me more about the 2 FREE TRIAL events?

THE BEST TEACHER = EXPERIENCE

After completing the practice event, you’re one step away from running official Digital Steel tournaments.

The “friends and family” event is meant to be a “dress rehearsal” where you can run an “informal” real event with participants who are aware this is your first time and will be understanding of any issues or delays while you get up to speed.

TRIAL 1 EVENT “Friends & Family”

Note: This event is limited to a maximum 16 players.

The “friends and family” event will have the following format:

One Round Robin Group Play
Two Single Elimination Knockouts

You will run a round robin and advance ALL players to either a “winners” knockout bracket or a “consolation” knockout bracket, providing more games to reward your guinea pigs.

TRIAL 2 EVENT

The Trial 2 event is your first opportunity to run an event using any available options in the My Events system and has no limitation on the number of players that can participate.

How do I log into my tablets for online or in-person events?

Scoring App Login

ONLINE EVENTS – Players must log into their own device with their personal DartConnect account. Important: The email for their personal account must be entered into your My Events player library for them to be connected to the tournament.
IN-PERSON EVENTS – If you are providing your own tablets, log into each tablet with the Master Login username/password found on your My Event page control panel (see picture below). These credentials can be used on multiple tablets simultaneously. Do not distribute this to players for online events, instruct online players to use their personal account login.

What is your billing method and payment policy?

Billing Process

My Events are billed on a monthly cycle and invoices sent via email to the address assigned to the account. If more than one event was completed during the same billing period, they will be consolidated into a single invoice.

DartConnect Digital Steel Online Competitions currently bill at the rate of $1 per entry, per competition. A competition may include one or two stages. The billing rate applies to the number of entries for the initial stage (E.G. RR>KO events will only be billed for RR entries).

All invoices for “My Events” must be settled electronically through the options PayPal offers. Settlement with checks, mail orders, bank/wire transfers or cash settlement is not permitted.

It is the organizer’s responsibility to collect the service fee from the event participants.

Failure to remit payment within 5 days of receipt may result is suspension of service.

Certification Program Entry Requires a One-time $5 Charitable Donation

Your generous donation supports the WHO Covid-19 Response Fund

Get Started