How to use Scolia with Autodarts on the same dartboard

Yes — provided your Scolia installation uses the standard three USB-connected scoring cameras and you have a separate computer available to run Autodarts.

The important distinction is that you are not installing Autodarts onto the Scolia processing unit. You reuse the physical Scolia camera and lighting installation while running Autodarts on another computer — a suitable laptop, a Raspberry Pi or a mini PC.

Autodarts receives the camera feeds over USB, analyses the board and works out where every dart landed. A Scolia installation already gives you the difficult half of that: the cameras are mounted, the angles are established, the board is lit and the cables are run. All that is missing is a way of deciding which computer receives each camera feed.

That is what the USB switches do.

Normally each of your three Scolia cameras connects directly to the Scolia processing unit. You could unplug those three USB cables and connect them to another computer every time you wanted to use Autodarts. It would work in principle, and it would get old by the second week.

There is a second problem. If cameras are reconnected in a different order, the software can see a different camera configuration — which means correcting the setup or recalibrating, at the exact moment you wanted to throw.

A USB sharing switch solves both. Each camera connects to its own switch, and that switch stays permanently connected to both the Scolia processing unit and your Autodarts computer. Press the button one way and the camera talks to Scolia. Press it the other way and it talks to Autodarts.

Repeat for all three cameras and you have a dual-platform automatic dartboard.

For a standard three-camera setup, the complete parts list is:

Our switch kit is the three switches. The camera cables you already have keep doing their job — they just plug into a switch now instead of straight into the Scolia unit. What you may need to add is the run from each switch to the second computer.

Use matching cables of the same length and specification, and keep them as short as the layout allows. USB camera feeds are continuous data, and unnecessarily long or poor-quality cables are a common cause of a camera that works on the bench and drops out on the wall. Three tidy leads beat whatever spare USB cables are in the drawer.

Scolia uses three scoring cameras around the dartboard, and each one has to be switchable between two computers: the Scolia processing unit, and the Autodarts computer. One switch handles one camera, so three cameras need three switches.

Camera 1 goes to switch 1, camera 2 to switch 2, camera 3 to switch 3, and every switch has a lead to each computer. Once installed, the cables stay connected permanently — you only ever press the buttons.

Before disconnecting anything, identify the USB cable belonging to each Scolia camera and mark them 1, 2 and 3. Label the switches to match.

This sounds trivial and it prevents the single most common problem with this setup: reconnecting cameras in a different order. Once the installation works, every camera should stay on the same path permanently.

Power the system off and disconnect the three scoring-camera USB connections from the Scolia processing unit.

Do not touch the cameras themselves. Do not change their positions or angles. The whole point is to leave the physical installation exactly as it is and change only where the USB signals go.

Camera 1 into switch 1, camera 2 into switch 2, camera 3 into switch 3. Each switch now receives the feed from one camera.

Run one computer-side connection from each switch back to the Scolia processing unit.

You now have essentially the original Scolia installation again, with a switch sitting between every camera and the processing unit. Set all three switches to the Scolia side and Scolia sees its three cameras exactly as before.

The remaining connection on each switch goes to the Autodarts computer. Three cameras, three switches, two possible computers.

All three switches on Scolia and you play Scolia. All three the other way and Autodarts gets the cameras instead.

You do not need a gaming PC. What matters is enough reliable USB bandwidth for three simultaneous camera feeds, a modern quad-core processor and 8GB of RAM — our guide on which computer to use for Autodarts goes through the trade-offs between a spare laptop, a Raspberry Pi and a dedicated mini PC.

A mini PC is the natural fit here because it can live permanently beside the board, start with the system and connect straight to the display above it. Ours arrive with Autodarts installed and tested on a real board.

With all three switches set to the Autodarts side, start the mini PC and install Autodarts. Create your board and run the normal camera configuration and calibration.

Because the Scolia cameras are already positioned around the board, you are reusing camera geometry that is known to work rather than building a second physical system. Once all three cameras are visible, calibrate.

After that, leave the cameras and the USB wiring alone. From this point on, changing platform is only ever a matter of switching the camera feeds.

Do not recalibrate everything. Check the USB path first.

Once installed, changing platform takes seconds. Finish your Scolia session and shut the scoring unit down or off as appropriate. Change all three switches to the Autodarts side. Start or wake the Autodarts computer, open Autodarts and play. Reverse it when you want Scolia back.

No disconnecting cameras. No removing Scolia hardware. No second auto-scoring dartboard on the wall.

Yes. If you already have a monitor or TV above the board, the Autodarts mini PC can use it too, so both systems share the dartboard, the cameras, the lighting and the screen.

Exactly how you switch the display depends on how your setup is wired, but a permanent mini PC beside the board makes it straightforward.

Scolia and Autodarts each have their own communities, features and approach to automatic scoring. If you already own Scolia, replacing the whole system because you also want Autodarts makes little sense.

You might play Scolia most of the week and switch to Autodarts to play friends on that platform, or to enter an Autodarts tournament (free on any account), or simply to try new Autodarts features as they land.

Rather than treating it as an either/or decision, you can have both on one board.

It is better thought of as adding Autodarts to Scolia. Nothing is permanently removed: the processing unit stays installed and usable, the cameras stay where they are, the lighting stays where it is. You are adding a second route for the camera signals, and that makes the whole modification easy to reverse.

Nor does it involve modifying or installing anything on the Scolia processing unit. Autodarts runs on a separate computer, both systems stay independent, and the switches simply decide which one currently has the cameras.

You should not need a full recalibration just because you changed platform. The key is keeping each physical camera on the same switch and the same USB path — which is why the labelling in step 1 matters and why fixed cabling beats unplugging things by hand.

If you move a camera or change the camera ordering, expect to recalibrate. Our accuracy guide covers what actually moves the needle there.