Darts looks simple until the numbers get low. Three darts a turn, subtract what you score, first to zero wins. Anyone can follow that much watching Luke Littler on a Thursday night. But then a player lands on 167, the commentator says it is not a checkout, and suddenly the whole thing feels a lot more complicated than throwing pointy things at a wall.
The good news is that darts genuinely is a straightforward game once you understand a handful of core rules. The maths that looks so daunting on television is really just repeated subtraction with one important catch at the very end. This guide walks through every rule you need, starting with the absolute basics and building up to the tactical stuff that separates a pub thrower from a professional.
By the end you will understand the board, the scoring, the 501 format, the double-out rule, the bust rule, legs and sets, and even why a nine-darter is such a big deal. If you want to follow a live game while you read, our darts scores page tracks every major match as it happens.
The Basics: What Is Darts?
Darts is a target sport. Two players (or two teams) take turns throwing three darts each at a circular board divided into numbered segments. Each turn of three darts is called a visit or a throw. Players start on a set score, most commonly 501, and subtract whatever they hit with each visit. The first player to get their score down to exactly zero wins.
That is the entire game in a nutshell. Everything else is detail layered on top of that simple idea. The reason darts has become one of the fastest-growing sports on British television is that this core concept is instantly understandable, while the skill ceiling is genuinely enormous. A complete beginner can play their first game within minutes. A world champion has spent 20 years perfecting the same three darts.
The rules in this guide follow the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) standard, which is what you see on Sky Sports and ITV. Pub leagues and local competitions sometimes tweak the rules, but the PDC format is the universal benchmark and the one worth learning first.
The Dartboard Explained
A standard dartboard is 45 cm in diameter with a playing area of 34 cm across. It is divided into 20 numbered segments radiating out from the centre like slices of a pie. Around and across those segments sit several scoring zones, and understanding them is the foundation of everything else.
The Scoring Zones
Every dartboard has five different scoring areas, and each one changes the value of the segment it lands in:
- Single: The large main area of each numbered segment. Scores the face value of the number. A single 20 is worth 20 points.
- Double: The thin outer ring around the edge of the board. Scores twice the face value. A double 20 is worth 40 points.
- Treble (or Triple): The thin inner ring roughly halfway between the centre and the edge. Scores three times the face value. A treble 20 is worth 60 points, the highest single-dart score on the board.
- Outer Bull: The green ring around the very centre of the board. Worth 25 points.
- Bullseye (Inner Bull): The red dot at the exact centre. Worth 50 points, and crucially it counts as a double for finishing purposes.
Any dart that lands outside the double ring, in the black surround, or misses the board entirely, scores nothing. A dart also has to stay in the board to count. If it bounces out or falls to the floor, those points do not register, even if it was momentarily in a scoring zone.
The Maximum Score
The highest score you can achieve with a single dart is 60, from a treble 20. That means the maximum score for a full visit of three darts is 180, achieved by landing all three in the treble 20. This is why you hear the famous “one hundred and eeeeighty” call so often. It is the perfect visit, and the crowd loves it every single time.
Why Are the Numbers in That Strange Order?
Look at a dartboard and the numbers seem random. Starting from the 20 at the top and moving clockwise, the sequence runs 20, 1, 18, 4, 13, 6, 10, 15, 2, 17, 3, 19, 7, 16, 8, 11, 14, 9, 12, 5. There is nothing random about it. The layout is a deliberate design that punishes inaccuracy.
The trick is that high-scoring numbers are deliberately surrounded by low-scoring ones. The 20 sits between the 1 and the 5. The 19 sits between the 3 and the 7. The 18 sits between the 1 and the 4. So if you aim for the treble 20 and miss even slightly, you are likely to drop into the 1 or the 5 and score almost nothing. The board rewards precision and penalises the reckless.
The arrangement is usually credited to Brian Gamlin, a carpenter from Bury in Lancashire, who is said to have devised it in 1896. Some historians instead point to a Yorkshireman named Thomas Buckle. Either way, with over two quintillion possible ways to arrange 20 numbers around a circle, the sequence we all use today is a genuine stroke of design genius that has survived essentially unchanged for well over a century.
The Official Setup: Height and Oche Distance
If you want to play by proper rules, the board and the throwing line have to be set up to exact measurements. The PDC specifies these precisely, and every professional venue uses identical dimensions so that players can practise anywhere and know the setup is the same.
- Board height: The centre of the bullseye must sit exactly 1.73 metres (5 feet 8 inches) from the floor.
- Oche distance: The throwing line, known as the oche, must be 2.37 metres (7 feet 9.25 inches) from the face of the board, measured horizontally.
- Diagonal distance: As a useful check, the distance from the bullseye to the oche on the diagonal should measure 2.93 metres (9 feet 7.375 inches).
The oche is the line a player must stand behind when throwing. The word is pronounced “ockey” and it is one of the sport’s most distinctive pieces of jargon. A player can stand anywhere along the line and can lean over it as far as they like, but at least one foot must stay behind the oche and they must not step over it before the dart leaves their hand. Stepping over the line invalidates the throw.
Note that electronic soft-tip boards use a slightly longer throwing distance of 2.44 metres. For the steel-tip game you see on television, 2.37 metres is the standard.
The 501 Format Explained
Now for the game itself. The format used in virtually every professional darts match is called 501. Both players start with a score of 501 points, and the goal is to be the first to reduce that score to exactly zero. It sounds arbitrary, but 501 has become the universal standard because it offers the perfect balance of length and skill, and because the number breaks down beautifully into three-dart finishes at the business end of a leg.
How Scoring Works
Each player throws three darts per visit and subtracts the total from their remaining score. Say you start on 501 and land treble 20, treble 20, treble 20 for a maximum 180. You now have 321 remaining. Your opponent then throws, and you keep alternating visits, chipping away at your score each time.
In the standard 501 format, your score counts from the very first dart. There is no requirement to “double in” or hit a special segment to start scoring. You simply begin subtracting immediately. The only exception in professional darts is the World Grand Prix, which uses a double-in rule where your scoring only begins once you have hit a double. Every other major tournament lets you score from the off.
The Double-Out Rule (Checkouts)
Here is the single most important rule in darts, and the one that makes the whole game tick. To win a leg, your final dart must land in a double or the bullseye. This is called doubling out, or checking out. You cannot simply subtract your way to zero with any old dart. That last dart has to land in a doubling segment.
This is why the end of a leg is so tense. A player who needs 40 to win has to hit the double 20 specifically. A player who needs 32 has to hit the double 16. If you have an odd number remaining, you first have to score a single to bring yourself down to an even number that a double can finish. The moment a player leaves themselves on a finishable double, the whole match tightens.
The bullseye counts as a double in this context, because the 50-point inner bull is treated as a “double 25”. So a player who needs exactly 50 to win can finish on the bullseye. This makes the bull one of the most dramatic finishes in the sport.
The Bust Rule
The bust rule is where a lot of newcomers get confused, so here it is clearly. You bust if you do any of the following on a visit: score more than your remaining total, reduce your score to exactly 1 (because 1 cannot be finished on a double), or reach zero without your final dart landing on a double.
When you bust, your turn ends immediately and your score resets to whatever it was at the start of that visit. Nothing you scored on that visit counts. Here is a worked example. A player has 32 remaining and aims for the double 16. Their first dart hits a single 16, leaving 16. They then aim for the double 8 but hit a single 8, leaving 8. Their third dart misses the double 4 and hits a single 4, leaving 4. That is not a bust, they just failed to check out and move to 4 next visit. But if that same player on 32 had accidentally hit a single 20, leaving 12, then a single 16, they would have gone past zero into negative and busted, resetting back to 32.
This is why professionals think so carefully about which numbers they leave themselves on. Leaving a “good” number that offers a clean double is a skill in itself, and a big part of what separates elite players from the rest.
Checkouts and the Highest Finish
A checkout is the combination of darts a player uses to finish a leg from a given score. Once you are on 170 or below, a finish becomes possible in a single three-dart visit, although not every number between 2 and 170 can actually be checked out in three darts.
The Highest Possible Checkout: 170
The highest checkout in darts is 170, and it is achieved with treble 20, treble 20, bullseye (60 + 60 + 50). This is known as the “big fish” and it is one of the most celebrated finishes in the sport. It requires two perfect treble 20s followed by a nerveless bullseye under maximum pressure, so even the best players in the world do not hit it often. When a player lands a 170 checkout on television, it is a genuine highlight-reel moment.
The Impossible Finishes
Not every number can be finished in three darts. The scores that cannot be checked out in a single visit, even in theory, are 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159. If a player lands on one of these numbers, known as “bogey numbers”, they cannot finish that visit no matter what they throw. Instead they have to score deliberately to leave themselves on a finishable number for the next visit. A savvy player avoids leaving themselves on these numbers wherever possible.
Common Checkouts Worth Knowing
A few checkouts come up so often that professionals know them instinctively. Learning even a handful will dramatically improve your understanding of a live match:
- 170: Treble 20, treble 20, bullseye (the big fish, the maximum).
- 167: Treble 20, treble 19, bullseye.
- 100: Treble 20, double 20 (a common and clean finish).
- 40: Double 20 (the most popular finishing double in the game, often just called “double top”).
- 32: Double 16 (a favourite because if you miss into a single 16, you are left on 16, another clean double).
That last point about the double 16 explains a lot about professional strategy. Players love finishing on numbers that leave them another comfortable double if they narrowly miss. The double 16 is a classic example because a single 16 leaves you on 16, then a single 8 leaves you on 8, and so on down a friendly ladder of even numbers.
Legs and Sets: How Matches Are Structured
Winning a single game of 501 does not usually win the match. Professional darts is structured around legs and, in some tournaments, sets. Understanding the difference is essential to following any match.
What Is a Leg?
A leg is a single game of 501. The first player to check out from 501 to zero wins the leg. Most tournaments are then decided by playing a “best of” a set number of legs. In a best-of-11-legs match, the first player to win six legs wins the match. This straight-leg format is used in the majority of PDC events, including Premier League Darts, because it is fast, simple and easy for fans to follow.
What Is a Set?
Some tournaments add another layer called sets. A set is itself a mini “best of” group of legs, usually a best of five legs, meaning the first player to win three legs takes the set. The match is then decided by winning a set number of sets. The World Darts Championship is the most famous example of set play. Its final is played as the best of 13 sets, meaning the first player to win seven sets is crowned world champion.
Set play changes the rhythm of a match significantly. Because each set resets the leg count, a player can lose a run of legs and still be level on sets, which keeps matches alive and creates dramatic comebacks. Momentum matters, but a single bad set is not fatal in the way a run of lost legs would be in straight-leg play.
The Throw and the Break
Players alternate who throws first in each leg, and throwing first is a genuine advantage because you are always one step ahead in the race to zero. The player throwing first is said to be “on throw”. If the player who is not on throw manages to win the leg anyway, it is called a “break of throw”, and it is a pivotal moment because it puts the breaker in control of the set or match. Holding your throw and breaking your opponent is the tactical heart of a close darts match.
What Is a Nine-Darter?
The nine-dart finish is the perfect leg in darts, the equivalent of a hole-in-one in golf or a 147 break in snooker. It means checking out from 501 to zero in the fewest possible number of darts, which is nine. To do it, a player has to score with ruthless perfection across three consecutive visits and then nail a checkout, with no margin for error whatsoever.
The most common route to a nine-darter is two maximum 180s followed by a 141 checkout, which is typically treble 20, treble 19, double 12. Because it demands both perfect scoring and a perfect finish under enormous pressure, the nine-darter is rare even at the very top of the sport. A professional can play thousands of legs without landing one on television, which is exactly why the crowd erupts when it happens. It is one of the greatest spectacles in all of sport.
Common Rule Variations
While 501 double-out is the professional standard, darts is a broad church and you will encounter several variations, especially in pubs and local leagues.
301, 701 and Other Starting Scores
The same rules can be played from different starting totals. 301 is a shorter, faster game often used for practice or team play, while 701 and above are longer formats sometimes used in doubles matches. The regulatory setup (board height, oche distance, double-out rule) is identical. Only the starting number changes.
Double In, Double Out
Some formats require you to hit a double before your scoring begins, known as “double in”. Combined with the standard double-out finish, this is called double in, double out, and it is significantly harder because you can spend several visits stuck on your starting score before you even open your account. In professional darts, only the World Grand Prix uses this format, which is part of what makes that tournament such a distinctive and brutal test.
Cricket and Around the Clock
Beyond the 01 games, there are entirely different darts formats worth knowing. Cricket is a popular tactical game where players aim to “close” numbers 15 through 20 and the bullseye by hitting each three times, while scoring points on numbers the opponent has not yet closed. Around the Clock is a simple practice game where you work through every number from 1 to 20 in sequence. Neither is used in PDC competition, but both are common in social play.
The Darts Themselves
A dart is made up of four parts, and understanding them helps make sense of why players are so particular about their kit:
- Point (or tip): The sharp front end. Steel-tip for bristle boards, soft-tip for electronic boards.
- Barrel: The gripped body of the dart, usually made from tungsten alloy. This is where the weight sits and where a player grips.
- Shaft (or stem): The middle section that connects the barrel to the flight.
- Flight: The wing at the back that stabilises the dart in the air.
Professional darts are usually made with a high tungsten content, typically 80% or above, because tungsten is extremely dense. This lets manufacturers make a slimmer barrel for the same weight, which allows players to group their darts more tightly in the treble 20. PDC rules cap the maximum dart weight at 50 grams and the maximum length at 30.5 centimetres, though in practice almost all professionals use darts between 20 and 26 grams. Luke Littler, for reference, throws a 22-gram dart.
Professional Rules and Etiquette
At the professional level, the PDC enforces a set of additional regulations beyond the core rules of play. These keep the sport fair and maintain its standards on television.
- Throwing action: All darts must be thrown deliberately and overarm. You cannot flick or launch a dart in an unconventional way.
- Oche discipline: At least one foot must remain behind the oche and the player must not step over the line before releasing the dart.
- Dress code: Players must wear appropriate collared or branded shirts and smart attire, and maintain a professional appearance.
- Conduct: Unsportsmanlike behaviour, such as deliberately distracting an opponent or arguing with officials, can result in warnings or penalties.
- Scoring officials: In televised matches, a dedicated official called a caller (or referee) announces the scores, most famously with the booming “one hundred and eighty” call. The caller keeps the official running total.
One of the more surprising professional rules concerns alcohol. While darts has a long association with the pub, the official rulebook prohibits players from consuming alcohol in the playing area during a tournament. The modern professional game is a serious, sober sporting contest, whatever its beer-soaked reputation might suggest.
Understanding Darts Betting
Once you understand the rules, darts becomes a genuinely rewarding sport to bet on, because the format creates so many distinct markets. Beyond simply backing a match winner, darts betting odds cover a huge range of outcomes across every major tournament.
The most common darts markets follow directly from the rules explained above. Match-winner betting is the simplest, backing one player to win the match outright. Handicap betting evens out a mismatch by giving one player a head start in legs. Correct-score betting asks you to predict the exact leg or set scoreline, which offers longer odds for a precise call.
Then there are the markets unique to darts that make the sport so engaging for bettors. The Most 180s market asks which player will hit more maximums. The Highest Checkout market asks who will land the biggest finish. There are even markets on whether a nine-darter will be hit during a tournament, and on specific feats like a 170 checkout. These prop-style markets reward fans who genuinely understand the flow of a leg, because you are betting on the scoring and finishing patterns rather than just the result.
For newcomers, the match-winner and handicap markets are the most intuitive starting points, and they map cleanly onto the leg-and-set structure covered earlier in this guide. New customers can also take advantage of the latest BetVictor sports offers when getting started.
