Darts 501 Rules — How to Play and Keep Score

Overview

The standard darts game, and the one most often scored on a chalkboard. Each player starts on 501 and subtracts what they throw until they land exactly on zero. It is in this catalogue because the mental arithmetic — subtracting three-dart totals under social pressure, then working out a finish — is exactly the chore an app removes.

Setup

Two players or two teams, throwing three darts per visit. The board is standard: each number has a treble ring worth three times its value and a double ring worth twice, with an outer bull of 25 and an inner bull of 50. The maximum visit is 180, three treble twenties.

Decide who throws first by each player throwing one dart at the bull, nearest wins. In a match, the loser of a leg throws first in the next.

How to play

A player throws three darts, and the total of that visit is subtracted from their remaining score. Play alternates. The aim is to reduce the score to exactly zero.

With the standard double-out rule, the final dart must land in a double or the inner bull. This is why the endgame is a game in itself: from 40 a player throws at double 20, and missing into the single leaves 20, still an even number and still finishable. Leaving an odd number, or leaving 1, is a positional mistake rather than a scoring one.

Scoring

Each visit's total is subtracted from the player's remaining score. Entries are what was thrown, not what remains — the app does the subtraction, which is the whole point of using it.

A visit is a bust when any of these happens:

• the score would go below zero;
• the score would land on exactly 1, from which no double finish exists;
• the score reaches zero on a dart that is not a double, when double-out is on.

On a bust the entire visit is voided by default and the player's score returns to what it was at the start of that visit. The turn ends immediately.

A player wins the leg by reaching exactly zero on a legal finishing dart.

Common visit totals worth knowing, because they are what people actually score: 26 is the classic beginner's 20-5-1, 60 is a single treble twenty, 100 and 140 are routine for a decent player, and 180 is the maximum.

Ending the game

A leg ends when a player checks out on zero. A match ends when a player has won the configured number of legs — traditionally best of five, so three legs.

With sets switched on, legs accumulate into sets and the match is decided on sets won, which is how televised darts is scored.

Common variations

Straight-out play for beginners, double-in for a slower and more traditional game, 301 for a quick leg and 701 for teams. Around the Clock and Cricket are different games rather than variations, and have their own sheets.