Darts

The board

The board is the regulation one, the same as in tournaments: twenty numbered sectors in an order that looks random and is not — the 20 sits between the 1 and the 5, so a player who aims for the highest number and misses slightly is punished for it. Every sector has four beds:

• the single, the two wide bands, is worth the number;
• the treble, the narrow ring halfway out, is worth three times the number;
• the double, the narrow outer ring, is worth twice the number;
• the bull: the green ring is worth 25, the red centre 50, and the centre counts as a double.

The best single dart is treble 20, 60 points, and three of them make 180, the most a turn can score.

501, against the computer

Each player starts on 501 and throws three darts a turn, and whatever you score comes off. The winner is the first to reach exactly zero, and the dart that gets there must be a double or the 50 bull. That is the tournament rule, called double out.

Get the arithmetic wrong and you bust: the turn ends at once and your score goes back to where it was when the turn began. You bust by going below zero, by leaving exactly 1 (which no double can take off), or by reaching zero without a double.

With 170 or less to go, the game shows the checkout under the board: the darts you need, such as T20 T20 BULL for 170 or T20 D20 for 100. When the darts left in your turn cannot finish, it says so. Some scores can never be finished in three darts: 159, 162, 163, 165, 166, 168 and 169.

The computer has three levels:

• Easy throws like a pub player and aims at treble 20 until it can see a double.
• Normal is more accurate and knows every checkout.
• Hard throws like a good club player: about 70 points every three darts.

Who throws first alternates from one leg to the next.

Round the clock, on your own

Hit the numbers from 1 to 20 in order, then the bull. Any bed of the right number counts, single, double or treble. The score is how many darts it took: fewer is better, and the game remembers your best.

It is the best way to learn to throw, because it takes you round the whole board and not only to the top of it.

Two ways to throw

The Aim button switches between them (A on a keyboard):

• Sight. The sight sways like a real arm. Hold it down and it nearly stops for a moment, then the arm tires and it sways wider than before: let go at the right time and the dart flies. On a phone the sight sits above your finger, so your finger never covers the board. With a mouse the sight follows the pointer even without pressing.
• Flick. Drag upwards and let go. Where you let go sets the line, and your speed sets the height: too gentle and the dart lands low, too hard and it goes high. More physical, and made for a finger more than a mouse.

Strategy that actually helps

With the sight, timing beats aiming. Hold, wait for the sight to settle, and throw before it starts to widen again. Holding too long misses more than letting go early.

If treble 20 will not come, try 19. Either side of the 20 sit the 1 and the 5; either side of the 19, the 7 and the 3, so a near miss on the 19 costs less.

Finish on even doubles. 32 is the professionals' favourite: miss double 16 into single 16 and you are left with 16, which is double 8, and then double 4. An odd number costs you a dart to set up.

Never leave yourself 1. You cannot finish on 1: it is a bust.

Controls

• Touch or mouse: with the sight, hold and let go; with a flick, drag upwards and let go.
• Keyboard: M switches between 501 and round the clock, A changes how you aim, L changes the level, N starts again.

A little history

Darts comes from English pubs, where it has been played for well over a century, and 501 with a double out is the format of the big tournaments. The order of the numbers on the board is often credited to an English carpenter, Brian Gamlin, in the late nineteenth century, though the story has never been documented. If you like games about aiming, try Pool.

Common questions

Is it free? Yes. It runs in your browser, with no signup and nothing to download.

Can I play darts against the computer? Yes: 501 is played against the computer, at three levels. Round the clock is played on your own.

Why do I have to finish on a double? Because that is the rule of 501 in every tournament; without it the end of a leg would be too easy. The 50 bull counts as a double.

What does bust mean? Scoring more than you have left, leaving yourself on 1, or reaching zero without a double. The turn ends and your score goes back to what it was at the start of the turn.

What is the highest score? 180 in a turn, with three treble 20s. The highest checkout is 170: treble 20, treble 20, bull.

Does it work on a phone? Yes. With the sight, the pointer sits above your finger; with a flick, you throw with an upward swipe.