How many points in darts? 301, 501, double out and Cricket

How it works

The most played game on a dartboard, in pubs and in competition, is x01: each player starts from a starting score, most often 501, sometimes 301 for a short game or 701 and 1001 for teams. In turn, each player throws three darts and subtracts what they scored. The first to reach exactly zero wins the leg.

A game is one leg or several: “first to 3 legs”, for example, and in tournaments legs are grouped into sets. The player who throws first alternates with every leg; for the first one, toss a coin or have each player throw one dart at the bull, closest starts.

You throw from 2.37 m (7 ft 9¼ in), with the centre of the board 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) from the floor. Those two measurements are the same everywhere, from the garage board to the world championship.

The board and the value of each zone

The sectors are not in order: the 20 sits at the top between the 1 and the 5, precisely so that a dart that misses the 20 is expensive. The maximum in one turn is 180, three treble 20s. The most profitable zone is therefore the treble 20; players who prefer the 19 (between the 7 and the 3) aim at the treble 19, worth 57.

Two written conventions appear everywhere and on the counter: D for double, T for treble. “T20 T19 D12” reads treble 20, treble 19, double 12: 60 + 57 + 24 = 141.

Scoring a turn

Add up the three darts, then subtract the total from the remaining score. On the pub chalkboard, you write the turn’s score in the player’s column and the new remainder next to it: that is the classic score sheet, and it is what the counter does.

The mental arithmetic goes dart by dart: “sixty, eighty, one hundred” for T20, 20, 20. The usual totals to know by heart: 60 (three 20s), 100 (T20 and two 20s), 120 (two T20s), 140 (two T20s and a 20), 180. Turns of 26 (20, 5, 1: the dart that misses left and right) and 45 (20, 20, 5) are the most frequent at our board, well ahead of the 180s.

If a dart bounces out or falls, it scores zero and is not thrown again. If a dart lands in another dart, only the one in the board counts.

Finishing on a double, and the bust

The rule that gives x01 all its flavour: you must reach exactly zero, and the last dart must be a double (outer ring, or the inner bull, which is worth 50). So you cannot finish “16” with a single 16: it has to be double 8.

If a turn takes the score below zero, leaves it on 1 (impossible to finish on a double) or brings it to zero without a double, that is a bust: the turn is cancelled, the player goes back to the score they had before throwing, and the remaining darts of the turn are not thrown. A few cases:

• 40 left, first dart in the treble 20 (60): immediate bust, you stay on 40.
• 16 left, you aim at double 8 and the dart lands in the single 16: score on zero but no double, bust, you stay on 16.
• 3 left: you need a single 1 then double 1. A single 2 would leave 1, bust.
• 50 left: the inner bull finishes the leg with a single dart, since it counts as a double.

As soon as the checkout or the bust is settled, the turn stops, even with darts in hand. That is why you count dart by dart at the end of a leg, and why the counter locks the keys as soon as the fate of the turn is decided.

Checkouts to know

Finishing quickly means knowing the combination that leads to your favourite double. Players most often aim at double 16 (32): hit the single 16 instead, 16 is left, which is double 8; miss again, double 4, then double 2. The 32 “halves” nicely. Double 20 (40) is the other favourite. A few standard checkouts:

170 is the highest possible checkout with three darts; 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159 have none. The full table, from 170 down to 2, is in our guide Darts checkouts to know, and the counter shows the checkout as soon as the remainder drops below 171.

301, 501 or 701: which to choose

Why 501 and not 500? With an odd number it is impossible to get down to zero with nothing but 20s and double 20s; you have to go through a treble, an odd single or the bull, which makes the end of the leg more interesting. 301 is traditionally played with double in: nothing counts until you have hit a double, which makes up for the shortness of the leg.

Cricket

Cricket uses only seven targets: 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and the bull. You must close each one by putting three marks on it: a single is one mark, a double two, a treble three (a treble 20 closes the 20 in one dart). On the bull, the outer ring is one mark and the centre two.

Once a player has closed a number, every extra mark they put on it earns them points (the number’s value, 25 for the bull) as long as an opponent has not closed it too. When everyone has closed a number, it is dead: it earns nothing for anyone.

The winner is the first to have closed all seven targets while having at least as many points as every opponent. A player who has closed everything but is behind on points must keep scoring on the numbers still open for the others, while they try to close them. There is no bust in Cricket, and no double to finish.

In Cut-throat, points are given to the opponents who have not closed the number, and the lowest total wins. In no-score Cricket, you only close: the first to close everything has won. All three variants are in the counter; write “/” for one mark, “X” for two, a circled cross for a closed number.

Example of a 501 leg

Emma and Nico, 501, double out. In each column, the turn’s points then the remainder.

In the sixth turn, Emma aims at double 20, hits the single 20 (20 left), then puts in double 10: a two-dart checkout. Nico, who was also on 40, never got the chance. Emma threw 17 darts for 501 points: her three-dart average, the figure players compare, is 501 ÷ 17 × 3 = 88.4. In turn 5, had Emma hit T20 then T20 (120) with 116 left, she would have bust and stayed on 116.

Variants

• Double in: nothing counts until the player has hit a double; the double that opens the scoring counts. Classic in 301.
• Master out: the last dart may be a double or a treble. The inner bull always counts; 1 left is still a bust.
• Straight out: no constraint on the last dart, you just need to reach zero. Faster, ideal for beginners or children.
• Legs and sets: “first to 3 legs”, or in tournaments sets of 3 winning legs. The first thrower alternates with every leg.
• Bull worth 50 in both zones: some boards count 50 for the whole bull. The standard rule, and the counter’s, is 25 outside and 50 in the centre.
• Cut-throat and no-score Cricket: points go to the opponents (lowest wins), or no points are counted at all.

Common mistakes

• Finishing on a single: 16 left finished with a single 16 is a bust, not a win: it had to be double 8.
• Forgetting that 1 left is a bust: no double is worth 1; dropping to 1 cancels the turn, even without going below zero.
• Throwing the third dart after a bust: the turn is over as soon as the score goes below zero; whatever follows does not count, either way.
• Counting 25 for the inner bull: the centre is worth 50 and counts as a double; only the outer ring is worth 25.
• Writing in the wrong column: the turn’s score in the “left” column, or the other way round. On the board as on the sheet, always write both.
• In Cricket, scoring on a dead number: once closed by everyone, a number earns nothing more; aim elsewhere.

Frequently asked questions