How to Play Darts

Things You'll Need 

A dart board

Three darts per player

An opponent!

Playing darts is a great way to pass the time with good friends and good laughs. While there are many variations of games played with a dartboard, the most well-known approach is for each player to start with a number of points ending in -01 (e.g. 301, 501, 1001). Then, they have to throw their darts, trying to get to zero before all the other players. First to zero wins!

Steps 

Understand the board layout. Every dart board is the same and is numbered from 1 - 20 in non-sequential order around the board. The center of the board is called the bullseye. This is split into two sections. The inner section (usually red) is called the "double bull" or "cork" and the outer section (usually green) is known as the "single bull" or just "bull."

Hang the board so that the center of the double bull is 5ft 8in (1.73m) from the floor

Mark the Oche (/OCK-EE/), which is the line that a throwing player must stand behind. This is 7ft 9 1/4 inches from the face of the board.

Throw a dart each to see who goes first. The person who gets closest to the double bull gets to throw first, and sometimes chooses which version of the darts game will be played.

Take turns throwing three darts in an attempt to get the highest score possible. After all three darts are thrown, the player's total is scored and subtracted from their current score as follows:


The board is split into 20 separate sections each with a number allocated to that section. If a dart lands in a (usually) yellow or black section, the thrower scores that number of points.

If a dart lands in the outer green or red sections, the thrower scores double that section's number of points.

If a dart lands in the inner small green or red sections, the thrower scores triple that section's number of points.

The maximum number of points a thrower can score is 180. All three darts must land in the triple twenty space.

If a dart lands in the green part of the bullseye, the thrower scores 25 points.

If a dart lands in the red part of the bullseye, the thrower scores 50 points.

If a dart lands outside the outer wire, or doesn't stay on the board, the player scores nothing for that throw.


Tips 

In the USA, darts games using this type of darts and board are referred to collectively as "English darts" to distinguish them from "American darts", which are darts games played with a different style of darts and board.

Games of "01" (301, 501, etc.) must end by hitting a double. For example, if you have 20 points remaining, hitting a double 10 (which equals 20) will win the game. Therefore, as one nears 170 points it is helpful to calculate your "outs" so as to leave oneself at least one throw at a double to go out and win. There are commercially-available "out charts" to hang by your board (or print one from the Internet), although advanced players will have most of the out-combinations memorized. 180 is the highest 3-dart "out" (T20, T20, Double Bull); 120 is the highest 2-dart out (T20, Double Bull). 32 is often viewed as a very good point total to be left with as it offers a succession of single-dart outs if singles instead of doubles are hit, i.e. D8 if single 16 instead of D16 is hit, then D4, D2 and D1.