Darts Scoring Explained: 501, Checkouts and Doubles
Darts starts at 501 and counts down to zero, but you must finish on a double. Here is how scoring, checkouts and averages really work.
If you have ever watched the PDC World Championship on Sky Sports over Christmas and wondered why the crowd roars when someone hits a seemingly random double, this is for you. Darts scoring looks chaotic at full volume, but the maths behind it is simple once you know the rules.
The Basics: Starting From 501
Professional darts is almost always played as 501. Each player or pair starts with 501 points and throws three darts per visit to the board. Whatever you score that visit is subtracted from your remaining total. Miss the board entirely and you score zero for that dart.
A standard dartboard scores 1 to 20 around the outer ring, with a thin outer band doubling the segment's value and a thin inner band tripling it. The bullseye is worth 50 (outer bull is 25). The maximum possible score from three darts is 180: three darts in treble 20.
Doubles Out: How You Actually Finish
The race is not just to reach zero. Under the double-out rule used in professional darts, the final dart of a leg must land in a double segment, or the bullseye, which counts as double 25.
That is why commentators obsess over a player's position: a score like 32 remaining is a simple finish (double 16), while an awkward number like 169 is unreachable with three darts and forces a player to leave themselves a different number first.
Busting
If a player's three-dart visit would take their score below zero, leave exactly 1 remaining, or bring it to zero without the final dart being a valid double, the visit busts. The player's score reverts to what it was before that turn, and the next player throws.
Legs, Sets and Matches
- A leg is one completed game of 501.
- A set is a group of legs, usually first to 3 legs in professional play.
- A match is a number of sets, which grows as a tournament progresses.
At the PDC World Championship, the opening rounds are shorter and the final is played over the best of 13 sets, first to 7, with a tie-break leg if a deciding set reaches 5-5.
The Three-Dart Average
A player's average is their total points scored divided by the number of visits, then multiplied by three, giving a per-visit figure. It is the clearest measure of scoring power: top PDC professionals regularly average in the high 90s, and the sport's elite, including world number one Luke Littler, have posted averages over 100 in major finals.
The Nine-Dart Finish
The sport's perfect leg is the nine-darter: finishing 501 in the minimum nine darts. A typical route is three maximums (180, 180, 180) followed by a 141 checkout, though players reach it with different combinations. It remains rare enough that it stops every bar in Britain when it happens live.
The PDC World Championship
The PDC World Darts Championship runs every December and January at Alexandra Palace ("Ally Pally") in north London, in front of raucous, fancy-dress crowds. The 2025/26 edition expanded to 128 players and carried a total prize fund of £5 million, with £1 million to the winner. It remains the biggest event on the darts calendar and the sport's main shop window to a UK television audience.
Why It Matters to New Fans
Once you know the core rule, you don't need to do mental arithmetic to follow along: watch for a player's remaining number drop toward a double they like (32, 40, 36 are popular finishes), and you will understand exactly why the crowd goes wild a split second before the dart lands.
For more darts and snooker explainers, read about Luke Littler's rise and the European Championship, see how the other major cue sport scores in our snooker rules explained guide, or browse all our darts and snooker coverage.
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Background from Wikipedia
Darts
Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed projectiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard.
Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the board, though unlike in sports such as archery, these areas are distributed all across the board and do not follow a principle of points increasing toward the board's bullseye. Though a number of similar games using various boards and rules exist, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules.
Darts is both a professional throwing sport and a traditional pub game.
Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Frequently Asked Questions
What is 501 in darts?
501 is the standard scoring format. Each player starts at 501 and subtracts their three-dart score each visit, racing to reach exactly zero first.
Why do you have to finish on a double in darts?
Doubles-out is the standard rule in professional darts. The winning dart of a leg must land in a double segment or the bullseye, not just bring the score to zero.
What happens if you bust in darts?
A visit busts if it takes the score below zero, leaves exactly one point, or reaches zero without landing on a valid double. The score reverts to what it was before that visit.
What is a nine-dart finish?
A nine-dart finish, or nine-darter, is a perfect leg of 501 completed in the minimum nine darts: three 180s followed by a 141 checkout, or similar combinations.
How is a darts average calculated?
A three-dart average is a player's total points scored divided by the number of visits, multiplied by three. Top PDC players average above 95, with the very best over 100.
Sources & Official Resources
Rules, schedules and statistics in this article are checked against these official sources. See our editorial policy for how we fact-check.
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