New concept: The 501 Suite

For the past months I have been building something bigger than just a new 501 scorer. It started as a new 501 game with Scolia support, and grew into a whole place to play, train and measure your 501: the 501 Suite.
Today it is open to every member and I am super excited to see the members on GoDartsPro starting to use it.

The idea is simple. A match of 501 is the best test there is of where your game stands. Scoring, finishing, rhythm, nerves: it is all in there. So instead of one more game in the list, the 501 Suite gives you one great match screen, a coach that reads your matches, and five reasons to come back tomorrow.

The new 501 game

Everything in the suite is played in the new 501 game. Play a bot at 20 levels, from a beginner who sprays the board to a professional averaging around a hundred, play a guest or a friend at the same board, and set the format the way you like it: legs or sets, best of or first to, double out, double in, a handicap and more.

Built for your Scolia board

With a Scolia board you just throw. Every dart lands on screen as it lands in the board, the score counts down by itself, and the three dart boxes are there if the board ever reads a dart wrong. You can even throw for the bull at the board to decide who starts. And when your third dart finds the treble for a 180, the crowd reacts right then, not when you walk up to pull your darts out.

A caller to call the match

Turn on the caller and every visit is call in a much more inspired way than the ordinary scripted browser voice calling the score, “One hundred and eighty!”, what you require, and “Game shot, and the match!” when it is over. If you prefer it quiet you can switch the sound off completely.

A board view that shows what matters

When the bot throws, you watch its darts land on a real board to make it feel more like a human player. The bot is also trying to finish the legs according to the checkout suggestions. On a finish the camera moves and zooms in on the double, so you see exactly how close it was, down to the millimetre. On a Scolia match your own darts are drawn on the board beside your score, numbered one to three. Miss a double and the board tells you by how many millimetres. Is your miss always high? Always wide? Now you can see it, visit after visit.

Stats while you play, and after

Every visit is listed beside the score for both players, so you read the leg like a scoreboard. Tap AVG and your leg and match averages follow you through the match. Checkout routes are suggested when you are on a finish. When the match is over you get the full picture: averages, first nine, checkout percentage, 180s and tons, and how your darts at the doubles went.

All of it in your Performance Center

Every 501 match you play is saved to your stats, ready for the Performance Center. You see how your average moves over time, how you start a match and how you finish one, how you play in deciding legs, how you answer an opponent’s big visit, and which doubles you hit and which you avoid. The numbers become the story of your game, not just a list.

And a lot more

A personal bot built from your own game once you have played enough legs, so you can play the player you are. Bots you build yourself. Presets for the formats you play most. Full screen for playing from the oche. A quick way to correct a score. Undo. A handicap for uneven matches. Small things, but together they make a match feel right. You can also watch the game dart for dart again later, or share the game with friends and family on social media.

A coach after every match

When a match ends, the Virtual Coach reads it for you. One thing that went well. One thing to work on, with a training game on GoDartsPro that trains exactly that, chosen for your level. The moment the match turned. And when a pattern shows up across your matches, a slow start, a fade in long matches, doubles that go missing under pressure, the Virtual Coach picks it up and builds it into your daily training.
Play a match tonight, train the right thing tomorrow.

Four ways to practise with a purpose

Practice is easier to keep up when something is at stake. That is what the four modes are for. Every match in them is played in the same 501 game, with the format set for you.

Career: from the Pub League to the Elite Tour

Start in the Pub League and work your way up through the County League, the Regional Circuit, the National Tour and the Pro Tour to the Elite Tour. Your opponents are named players with their own level, their own form and their own pace at the oche. Win promotion, hold on to your tour card, play the majors. Every matchday is a reason to pick up the darts. Start your career.

Tournaments: one draw, one trophy

Enter a knockout in the format of a famous event, from the short and sharp GDP Tour Day to the long sets of the GDP Winter Worlds and the double-in start of the GDP Grand Prix. Choose the grade of your opponents and play round by round, with longer matches the further you go, until you lift the trophy or go out. You can even start every match a leg behind to train the comeback. Enter a tournament.

Week Series: six days, twelve players, one champion

A week-long event against eleven named players you recognize if you’ve ever watched a Modus-game streamed online. Three days of group matches, a second chance if you miss out, and finals night on day six with semi-finals and a final. A new day of matches opens every midnight, or play at your own pace. Every match is a best of seven, so every leg counts. Play the Week Series.

Monthly challenge: the same match for everyone

One fixed format, the same for every member, and one leaderboard. No corrections, no shortcuts: the board’s reading counts for everyone the same. Play it as often as you like during the month and see how your best average ranks against the rest of the GoDartsPro community. Take the monthly challenge.

Thank you, testers

A big thank you to the members who played the 501 Suite before anyone else, reported every odd score and every strange moment, and told me honestly what they wanted to see. Much of what you read above exists because of you since I’ve tried to add as many features as possible based on your feedback and suggestions.

If you still feels something is missing, or an idea for the next step, or just find the new 501 Suite useful and fun? Use the Feedback button in the game, I read every message.

Game on!
Anders
Founder of GoDartsPro