How to play 501 darts: the rules, scoring and finishing on a double

The board and what it scores

A dartboard is split into twenty numbered segments, from 1 to 20 (20 at the top). A dart in the big part of a segment scores its number. The thin outer ring doubles it and the thin inner ring trebles it. In the middle, the green outer bull scores 25 and the red bullseye 50, and the bullseye counts as a double (double 25).

So the most one dart can score is treble 20, 60, and the most in a visit is three of them: 180, the score the caller shouts loudest.

A visit and the score

Players take turns. Each turn is a visit of up to three darts, thrown from the oche, the line on the floor 2.37 m from the board. Add up the three darts and take the total off your score. A dart that misses the board or bounces out scores nothing, and can't be thrown again.

The board's height matters as much as the distance: the bullseye is 1.73 m from the floor.

Finishing on a double

To win a leg you must reach exactly zero, and the dart that gets you there must be a double (or the bullseye). That's why players "set up" a finish: on 40 you aim at double 20, on 32 at double 16, which leaves double 8, then 4, then 2 if you hit the single by mistake.

The highest finish is 170: treble 20, treble 20, bullseye. Some scores can't be finished in three darts at all: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159 (the "bogey numbers"). See the checkout chart for the route on every score.

Busts

If a dart would leave you below zero, on exactly one (which can't be finished, as there's no double that scores one), or on zero without a double, that's a bust. The whole visit scores nothing and your score goes back to what it was before the visit. Your turn ends there.

Legs, sets and who throws first

One game from 501 to zero is a leg. Matches are played over a number of legs ("best of five legs"), and big matches over sets (a set is usually best of five legs). Players take turns to throw first in each leg; in a pub, you throw one dart each at the bull to decide who starts. 301 is the same game from 301, sometimes with a double to start ("double in").

A good pub player averages about 40 to 50 points a visit; a county player around 75; the best in the world close to 100. In Harbour Darts the house players play to those averages, from Old Ted (35) to Sharp Shona (95).