How do you score darts?

Answer 1

You aim at the dart board and throw the dart at the board.

That depends on the game. In England, the capital of darts, they pretty much just play 501 and 301. In the United States, Cricket is more popular (the English refer to Cricket as Mickey Mouse, but I appreciate that while requiring just as much skill, it is an interactive game rather than just a race to the finish like the '01 games).

The object of Cricket is to get three of each of the numbers 20 through 15 and the bullseye and to have at least as many points as your opponent.

To start, each player throws one dart at the bullseye. Whoever is closer goes first. If the dart is not perpendicular to the surface of the board, what counts in this case is where the dart intersects the surface of the bristles, not where the point is. If both darts are anywhere within the outer bull, or if both darts are anywhere within the inner bull, or if the second dart knocks out the first dart, or if it's too hard to tell which is closer, both players repeat throwing one dart at the bull, with the player who threw second the first time throwing first this time. The proper name for throwing at the bull to see who goes first is corking, but the common name is diddling.

Since this web site has users in several different countries, I think it's important to point out the some of the darts terminology has different meanings on the two sides of "the pond" (the Atlantic), as does much non-darts terminology. One of those terms is the bull. We normally refer to the outer bull simply as the bull. Across the pond they refer to the inner bull as the bull, whereas we call that the double-bull. Since I live in the States I'll be using American terminology.

The wedges corresponding to the numbers 1 through 14 have no value. For the "Cricket numbers", if a dart lands within the 3/8" space around the perimeter of the board, it's a double and counts as two of the number. If a dart lands in the 3/8" space midway between the double and the bull, it's a triple (called a treble in England) and counts as three of the number. Anywhere else in the wedge counts as one of the number. As you have probably guessed, a dart landing in the double-bull counts as two bulls. If a dart lands at an angle going under a wire, what counts is what side of the wire the dart is on. The point of a dart must be touching bristle in order for the dart to count. If a dart sticks in the board then falls out, it counts only if it was in the board for at least five seconds. If a dart slips out of your hand onto the floor, as long as it didn't hit the wall or in any other way go past the plane that includes the surface of the board, it can be rethrown. A dart does not count if the thrower's front foot was too far forward (just a warning on the first offense). The place on the floor from which you throw is called the oche (homonym of hockey). If the oche is raised, like a block or the edge of a carpet, you must throw from behind it. If it is a strip of tape, the edge closer to the dart board is the throw line. However, if the tape is a sticker with art that designates where the throw line is, go by that.

Each turn consists of throwing three darts, one at a time (or throwing one or two darts if that's all you need to win). No matter how many darts you threw since your turn began, as soon as you touch one of your darts that is in the board your turn is over (so you can't throw the first dart, nudge it out of the way, then throw the second dart). You (or your scorekeeper) score your whole turn after all three darts have been thrown. If you have a scorekeeper and you remove a dart from the board before the scorekeeper has scored it, it doesn't count. When you have gotten one of a Cricket number or a bull, you score it by marking a slash (/) next to the number on your side of the score board. You score a second hit of the same number by making the slash into an X. The third hit is scored by circling the X. If you get all three in one turn or the 2nd and 3rd in the same turn, you do not need to make the X before making the circle. Remember that doubles and triples count double and triple. Whenever you have three of a number and your opponent does not, you "own" that number. Every time you hit it while you own it you get points. So if you own 20's, you get 20 points for each 20 you hit (and 40 points for each double-20 and 60 points for each triple-20). Likewise, you get 19 points for each 19 if you own 19's, and so on. If you own bulls, each additional bull is 25 points (so the double bull is 50 points). Whenever you score points, put one line through the previous score and put the new total below it. If you need to erase scores to make room for more scores, as a courtesy leave the last three (don't forget to cross out the bottom one so you don't get confused). As soon as both players have three of a Cricket number or the bull, that number is "closed", and neither player gets any more points for hitting it. As soon as you have a circle next to each of the seven targets and at least as many points as your opponent, you have won.

I'll explain '01 scoring as the answer to another question.