Darts Scoring Rules – How To Score in Darts?

In darts, there are different game versions, therefore there are different scoring systems. When it comes to darts scoring rules, in this article, we’ll explain some of the most important facts regarding scoring in darts.

You have the two most common versions, the 301 and the 501 version, where you start a game with 301 or 501 points, and your main goal is to reach 0. There is a version called cricket, where the scoring rules imply that your goal is to be the first one to open or close all the cricket numbers and have a higher total.  In all three of the games mentioned, you have single areas, as well as triple and double rings, but we’ll leave that explaining for later.

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This is a question every new darts lover asks himself? When it comes to scoring in darts, the basic answer is actually pretty simple. What you have to do to score in darts, is throw a dart so it hits the area of the board you’re aiming for. Be it a single area, a double or a triple ring, or even a bullseye.

It is important to accentuate, that what you should be aiming for depends on a particular version of the game, however, the main goal is always the same. Throw the darts in the right, desired direction. That we can say is the most important general rule of darts scoring.

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If you’re even a little familiar with the scoring in darts, you must have heard these expressions a million times. However, you might not be as familiar with them as you would like to; so let us explain these terms more in detail.

Let’s start with a single area. A single area on a darts board is an area wherein simple words you score what you hit. Therefore, any dart that lands in the”non-ringed” area of the dartboard give you the number shown at the outside of the segment your dart has landed in a moment ago.

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When it comes to a double ring, the outer ring counts as double the normal score, usually written as D. In other words, the scoring darts rules applied here are; if your dart finishes in the double ring area, and the number you’ve hit is 18; your real score is actually 36, because every number of that segment gets doubled.

The tripe ring basically offers the same story as the aforementioned double ring; any darts landing in the inner ring score three times their normal value, usually shown as T. Therefore, if you hit for example 14 in the triple ring zone, your score is actually 42, as, by the scoring dart rules, it gets tripled.

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The bullseye is actually the focal point of the board and the aim of every player. It has an outer and an inner section as well. By the scoring darts rules, the outer section is worth 25 points, while the inner section is worth 50 points, and it is the most central point of the board and the game itself.  There’s another important aspect of the bullseye, referring to the start of the game. Namely, Before the start of every darts match, each of the players will line up at the throw line and throw the dart at the bullseye. The player whose dart gets the closest to the bullseye or actually hits the bullseye will be the one that gets to throw first.

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When it comes to scoring in darts, and the scoring rules; the obvious question arises- what is the highest possible score of the game? The highest possible score is actually 180. You might hear people referring to it as a ”ton 80” since a hundred points are usually referred to as a ton. How do you score it? Well if you want to score a ton 80, by the rules of darts, all of your darts, so all three of them have to land in the triple 20. So you have to aim for the triple ring, hoping your dart will land in the number 20 of that segment. In the televised games of darts, the score of n180 is usually announced in a special, somewhat excited way by the referee, simply to accentuate the importance of the score.

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Since we’ve covered some of the most general parts of darts scoring rules; it is time for us to tell something more about the scoring rules regarding the most common darts games; 301 and 501.

When it comes to 301 or 501 darts scoring, things are pretty simple actually. As we already mentioned, in these versions you either start with 301 or 501 and your main goal is to reach 0. But what is the scoring catch? Let’s start. These are the simplest of games. Each player starts with a score of 501 or 301 and takes turns to throw 3 darts. When it comes to the actual score, it is calculated and then deducted from the players total.

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Bullseye is worth 50, the outer ring is on the other hand worth 25 and a dart landing in the double or triple ring counts double or triple the hit score, while the single area gives you what you hit. The thing with 301 dart scoring rules, as well as with 501 scoring rules is that for example; if you need 32 points to reach zero, and you hit 16 and 17 which gives a total of 33; you won’t stay at -1 point, but you’ll be returned immediately to 32, where you began the turn. So, when you’re close to reaching a zero, you must hit the exact amount of the points left on your scoreboard; otherwise, you’ll get right where you were at the beginning of that turn. The only difference in rules between these two games is the fact that sometimes, the 301 version must be started and finished with a double scoring.

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When it comes to darts cricket scoring rules. They go as follows.  The scoreboard for this version of darts is set up with a 3 column layout, and with the dartboard numbers; 15-20 and bullseye in the middle that by the darts cricket scoring rules need to be closed out. All of the other numbers on the board don’t count in this game and should be considered as a miss. The numbers, as well as the bullseye, are considered open until both teams have hit it exactly three times. Moreover, if one team has closed out a number or maybe bullseye, it can be scored on until the opposing team does the same thing as well.

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There is another part of the Darts cricket scoring rules as well. The single rings on the board count as a single hit and should, therefore, be marked with a single slash (/). The double ring located on the outside of the board counts as two hits (marked with X), and the triple ring logically counts as three hits (marked with O). As for the bullseye; the outer bullseye counts as one, while the inner bullseye counts as two.

When one of the teams closes out a number or even a bullseye, with every next hit, that particular team is given the points corresponding to the number on the outer part of the dartboard. The outer bullseye brings as 25 points and inner bullseye 50 points as usual.

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