The sport of throwing darts is a fun one and many people play it. The Professional Darts Corporation and World Darts Federation run the sport. However, people might not know the full rules of darts. We already covered various sports rules, including the new NFL kickoff rules. Without further ado, read on to learn about darts rules.

Darts Rules: The Basics

It makes sense to start off with the basics of the sport. Many people play darts by adding up points based on which part of the board they hit with their darts. However, this is technically the incorrect way to play.

First, most players usually start with 501 points and subtract the points they score in each round from their total score. The goal of the game is to decrease your points total until it reaches exactly zero. It is also important to discuss how many darts players throw per turn. There are some variations to this, depending on where one plays.

However, the most common way to play is to throw three darts per turn. After one player has thrown three darts, the next player’s turn begins. These turns continue until someone wins. It is also important to note that players are supposed to finish their game by landing a dart in a number’s outer ring to reduce their points total to zero. Now that the basics are clear, it is time to move on and discuss the dart board itself.

What Are the Rules Pertaining to the Darts Board?

Naturally, it is important to discuss the board that players use to play darts. The board’s layout is fairly simple. It contains numbers that range from one to 20 and includes a number of rings. Each number’s inner ring gives players three times the number’s points. This means a player scores three points when they hit the number one’s inner ring, for example.

Aside from that, there is also an outer ring. This outer ring provides the players with double points, such as 10 points instead of five if one hits the number five’s outer ring. The single ring in between the outer and inner rings provides players with points equal to the ring’s number. In other words, if a player lands a dart in the number seven’s single ring, they subtract seven points from their score.

However, there are two more areas of the dart board to cover. The bullseye is the name for the board’s center and landing a dart in the outer bullseye is worth 25 points. Landing a dart in the inner bullseye is worth 50 points. That covers the darts rules regarding the dart board players use for a game.

How Does One Play the Game Correctly?

As previously mentioned, many people play darts the wrong way, according to the official darts rules. As a result, it is important to discuss the right way to play darts once again. Each player tosses three darts during each one of their turns. The player has to throw three darts before their turn is over.

Additionally, it makes sense to go over the scoring in darts again. Each player adds together the points they scored from each one of their darts. After that, they subtract those points from whatever their total score is at that point in the game. For this reason, it is crucial to ensure that one keeps an accurate count of how many points they scored in each turn and their total score throughout the game.

One has to decrease their score to exactly zero in order to win a game of darts. However, one must decrease their score in a certain way in order to win, according to the rules. One has to land a dart in the outer ring to double the points they score from their final dart and reach zero that way. In other words, if one’s total score is 10 prior to throwing their final dart, they are supposed to hit the number five’s double ring to reduce their score to zero.

This can be challenging. Despite this, doing so is the proper way to win a game of darts according to darts rules. It is also relevant to mention that the official name for a single game of darts is ‘leg’. Winning a leg means one has won a game of darts.

What Are the Darts Rules About Scores Below Zero?

Discussing what happens if a player’s score goes below zero also makes sense. Obviously, a player sometimes reduces their score below zero to a negative number. This is simply part of the reality of playing darts for most people, especially casual players.

However, people might not know what happens if a player accidentally reduces their score to a negative number. If this happens, one’s score resets to the score the player had when they started their turn. For example, if a player had a score of 30 at the start of their turn and scores 31 points, their score will not be negative one. Instead, their score resets to 30 and that is what their score will be at the start of their next turn. This puts the player at a disadvantage but it does not result in automatic defeat.

What Are the Darts Rules about Other Types of Games?

The most common type of darts game involves all players starting with 501 points and trying to reduce their scores to zero as fast as possible. However, this is not the only type of darts game that exists. There are several other variations of darts games.

One of these variations is known as a ‘301 game’. This type of darts game is fairly simple. Players play the game the same way, but they start with 301 points at the beginning of the game instead of 501 points. Players may want to play a 301 game if they want a faster game.

There is another variation of a darts game called ‘cricket’. In darts, a ‘cricket’ game means players seek to land a dart on every number on the board a total of three times prior to their opponent doing so. In this variation, reducing the score is not important.

That wraps up our explanation of darts rules.