  For many working in particle physics and cosmology successful discovery and
characterisation of the new particles that most likely explain the non-baryonic
cold dark matter, known to comprise the majority of matter in the Universe,
would be the most significant advance in physics for a century. Reviewed here
is the current status of direct searches for such particles, in particular the
so-called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), together with a brief
overview of the possible future direction of the field extrapolated from recent
advances. Current best limits are at or below 10-7 pb for spin-independent
neutralino coupling, sufficient that experiments are already probing SUSY
models. However, new detectors with tonne-scale mass and/or capability to
correlate signal events to our motion through the Galaxy will likely be needed
to determine finally whether WIMPs exist.
