Cricket Rules — How to Play and Keep Score
Cricket is the pub darts game for people who do not want a pure arithmetic race. Only seven targets matter — 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and the bull — and the interest comes from choosing between closing a number yourself and punishing an opponent who has left one open. It suits mixed-ability groups, because a strong scorer can still be shut out by someone who closes quickly.
Overview
Cricket is the pub darts game for people who do not want a pure arithmetic race. Only seven targets matter — 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and the bull — and the interest comes from choosing between closing a number yourself and punishing an opponent who has left one open. It suits mixed-ability groups, because a strong scorer can still be shut out by someone who closes quickly.
Setup
A standard board, three darts per turn. Throw for the bull to decide who starts. The sheet shows one row per target with a marks column for each player, plus a single points row underneath.
How to play
Play passes in turn, three darts each. Any dart landing in one of the seven targets adds marks to that player's row. Marks accumulate across turns, and once you reach the closing threshold that target is yours. Aim at whatever serves you best: closing a number denies it to nobody, but scoring on a number you have closed and an opponent has not is how a lead is built.
Scoring
Marks per dart: single 1, double 2, treble 3, outer bull 1, inner bull 2. A target closes at three marks by default.
Once you have closed a target, every further hit on it adds face value to your points row for as long as at least one opponent still has that target open. A single 20 adds 20, a double 20 adds 40, a treble 20 adds 60. The outer bull adds 25 and the inner bull adds 50.
Marks in excess of the closing threshold from a single dart convert immediately. If you hold two marks on 20 and throw a treble, the first mark closes the number and the other two score 40 points.
When every player has closed a target it is dead: no further marks and no further points on it.
Cut-throat inverts the points. The same amount is added to each opponent who has not closed that target, never to the thrower, and the lowest total wins.
You win when all targets are closed and your points are equal to or greater than every opponent's. Closing everything while behind on points does not win — you must keep scoring on numbers that are still open elsewhere until you draw level.
Ending the game
The match ends the instant one player satisfies both halves of the condition. In no-points mode the first player to close every target wins outright. A player who has closed everything and leads on points has won even if others still have darts in hand.
Common variations
Cut-throat is by far the most common house rule and changes the whole shape of the game. Some groups play that the bull must be closed first, others cap the game at a fixed number of turns and award the win to whoever leads on closed targets, then points.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | Highest score |
|---|---|
| Score sheet | Fixed categories, each filled once, with bonuses |
| Typical round score | 0 – 3 |
| Negative scores | Never — scores only go up |
| Worth knowing | Number rows hold marks and cap at the closing threshold. The points row holds a running points total and takes much larger values. |
Cricket — score sheet
Worked example
Settings: default (standard scoring, three marks to close, bull in play). Two players.
| Target | Anna | Ben |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 3 | 3 |
| 19 | 3 | 3 |
| 18 | 3 | 2 |
| 17 | 3 | 1 |
| 16 | 3 | 3 |
| 15 | 3 | 0 |
| Bull | 3 | 1 |
| Points | 95 | 65 |
Anna has closed all seven targets and leads 95 to 65, so the match ends the moment that state is reached — Ben's remaining darts do not matter. Expected standings: Anna total 95, rank 1, winner; Ben total 65, rank 2. Derived closed counts: Anna 7, Ben 3 (the 20, the 19 and the 16).
What this catches:
Closing everything is only half the win. With the same marks but the points at 40 to 60, the game is NOT over — Anna must keep scoring until she is at least level. An implementation that ends the game on marks alone fails the file's own rule.
Level points suffice. At 60–60 with Anna closed out, Anna wins: the condition is "equal to or greater than every opponent's", not "strictly greater".
Cut-throat flips the direction. The same closed-out sheet with Anna on 20 received points against Ben's 45 finishes with Anna the winner — the lowest total leads while cut-throat is selected, without touching the lowScoreWins toggle.
No-score mode ignores the points row entirely. The total becomes the closed count and the first player to close every target wins outright.
House rules and settings
Every table plays Cricket a little differently. These are the 7 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Scoring mode: what are the options in Cricket?
Standard play gives extra hits to the thrower and the highest score wins. Cut-throat gives those points to everyone who has not closed that number, and the lowest score wins. No points removes the points column entirely.
Default: Standard - you score the points. Three options:
In the app: “Scoring mode”.
Marks to close a number: what is the default in Cricket?
How many hits are needed before a number belongs to you. Three is standard. Lower it for a faster game.
Default: 3. Adjustable from 1 to 5 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Marks to close a number”.
Include the bullseye: on or off in Cricket?
Whether the bull is one of the targets that must be closed. Some groups drop it because it slows the finish.
Default: on.
In the app: “Include the bullseye”.
Numbers in play: what are the options in Cricket?
Which targets have to be closed. The random option draws six numbers from 1 to 20 when the match starts, which makes the board unfamiliar for everyone.
Default: 20 down to 15 plus bull. Three options:
In the app: “Numbers in play”.
Doubles and trebles count extra: on or off in Cricket?
On by default, so a treble gives three marks at once. Switch it off for a slower game where every dart in the number is worth exactly one mark.
Default: on.
In the app: “Doubles and trebles count extra”.
Play in teams: on or off in Cricket?
Pairs players into two sides that share one set of marks and one points total, which is how four or more people usually play.
Default: off.
In the app: “Play in teams”.
Stop after this many turns: what is the default in Cricket?
A cap on how long the game may run, for when a board is busy. Zero means play until somebody wins. If the cap is reached, the player with the most closed targets wins, and points settle a tie.
Default: 0. Adjustable from 0 to 40 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Stop after this many turns”.
Variants of Cricket
Wild Cricket
A dart is thrown at the start to pick each target, so the seven numbers change every match.
No-score Cricket
Points are ignored completely and the race is purely to close all seven targets first.
Quick Cricket
Numbers only have to be hit once instead of three times, which turns a twenty minute game into a five minute one.
Cricket is also known as
Mickey Mouse, Tactics, Cricket (darts). These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.
Coming to the App Store.