How to Play Darts 501 - A Complete Beginner's Guide

The most iconic darts game that everyone knows and loves is the game of darts 501. It is the top game of most major televised tournaments, and fans worldwide can't resist tuning into the latest darts 501 game. If you're a newbie in darts and envy the 501 scene, you're in the right place.

Let's summarize each aspect of how to play darts 501 and what you'll need to know before playing the game:

A-Z Darts sponsored player Cali West covers all the bases of darts 501 in a two-part video series on her Youtube channel, Garage Darts. In the first part above, Cali goes over the basics of darts 501 including the rules, scoring, and winning the game.

In the second part of her darts 501 how-to series, Cali West teaches you all about learning your outs — an integral part to the game's strategy! She even has her very own collection of "out suggestions" available in the video description.

The goal of Darts 501 is to be the first to reduce your points to 0 from 501. Unlike cricket darts, singles, doubles, and triples all across the board count towards your score. However, high-scoring areas like the triple 20 will be your priority to score in, so make sure to practice your accuracy. This game is typically played with steel tip darts, but don't fret soft tippers! You can absolutely play darts 501 with a soft tip dartboard as well.

You may be wondering, why do darts 501 matches start at 501 and not 500? It turns out that even numbers are actually quite uncommon in darts, so leaving the number odd makes the game way more competitive and challenging. You'd have to break the odd number at some point in the game, otherwise you'd only be aiming at the 20s the whole time if it was darts 500! There are other darts 01 variations, including 301, 701, and 901.

The scoreboards used for darts 501 are virtually the same as the ones used for cricket darts — most have a section where you can keep track of your 501 score. Having a scoreboard is especially helpful when doing all the darts 501 math every turn by hand.

We offer tons of scoreboard purchase options on our website, check them out below:

A free alternative to a physical scoreboard is a darts 501 scoring app intended for steel tip play, available on your electronic device! Using a darts 501 scoring app requires a bit of tech savviness, but it can take your practice and online competition to the next level with easy punch-in scoring and automatic subtraction so you don't have to do the math yourself. Plus, you can online remote play with other app users across the globe.

DartConnect is the most popular darts 501 scoring app in the US and the official scoring app affiliated with the PDC. You can sign up for free as a guest account to host online and in-person tournaments and league matches. They also offer a free 2-week Premium trial membership that gives you access to all the app's features, and if you're ready to make the upgrade, the Premium membership is super affordable at only $2 a month.

Target also has their own scoring app called DartCounter that offers both a free version and an Ultimate Membership version. The free version gives you unlimited access to dart games like darts 501, cricket, and more, plus automatic scoring and stats. The Ultimate Membership version allows you unlimited online plays, comprehensive statistics, all-time bests and worsts, and more.

Soft tip darts 501 doesn't require a scoring app or a physical scoreboard since soft tip dartboards do automatic scoring for you. Each soft tip board has a matrix inside that detects which part of the board you're hitting, automatically adding those points to your current score. Home dartboards like the Gran Board connect to your device via Bluetooth so you can use your phone or tablet to enjoy game animations, stats, party games, and more.

If you're playing in a bar, there are typically full-stand electronic dartboard machines that require coins or dollar bills to play coin drop games like darts 501. They each have a built-in monitor that will display your score as you play.

Start off your darts 501 game by having each player throw one dart at the bull to determine the play order. Whoever gets closest to the bull will play first! The process of determining who goes first in darts is commonly referred to as "corking" or "diddle for the middle". In the UK, you might hear "go for bull" or "bull off".

Long story short, it is a HUGE advantage to go first in darts 501 since your goal is to be the first to reach 0 points, so we highly recommend practicing your bullseye! Don't forget your darts etiquette: shake hands or exchange fist bumps with your fellow players before every game.

Learning how to score in darts 501 is the most important part of the game. After all, you must score down to a finish (and double out) to win the game. Let's go over a few important terms to know so you can maximize your pointing strategy in the game.

Some darts 01 tournaments will require you to double in before you can start scoring. Double in simply means you need to land a dart in any double on the board (outside ring) before you can begin counting down your score. Keep in mind, this is typically for advanced players only that can consistently double in on the first try (or second try at the worst) to keep the game competitive. Pros sometimes play 301 double in/double out or 501 double in/double out at major events.

After you double in, then all subsequent darts will start counting for your score (including the points scored from your double. For example, if the player threw a single 20, a double 20 and a single 20 in that exact order - they would have scored 60 points (the first dart doesn't count cause they'd hadn't hit the double yet).

Note: If you're playing teams, once a player on your team successfully doubles in, the rest of your teammates are not required to also double in.

Though you can technically double in with the double bull in darts 501, it's not recommended unless you're confident about your shot. It's a smaller target to hit than the rest of the doubles, and missing will result in you falling behind your opponent. It'll be much easier to shoot for the outer ring on the dartboard where the rest of the doubles live.

In most professional darts 501 games, like the ones hosted by the PDC, the pros aren't required to double in to make the game progress a bit faster. Their points start counting immediately. However, they are required to double out — more on that later.

In darts 501, every dart throw matters. You must be able to make the most of your darts. Remember that you win by being the first player to reach 0 points exactly, so scoring big is crucial to gaining an advantage in the competition. This means that doubles and triples will be the most valuable shots in every 501 game as they'll multiply the amount of points you can earn.

Contrary to popular belief, the bullseye does not earn you the most points in darts 501. Triple 20s actually do! A double bull will yield just 50 points while a triple 20 will get you 60 points. Multiply those numbers by 3 darts would get you a total of 180 points with three triple 20s, compared to only 150 with three double bulls. That's why you always see fans going wild over the pros hitting three T20s (also called a "One80", "Ton80" or "Maximum") at televised tournaments — it's the most you can score in just one turn.

While it may be tempting to go for T20s the entire darts 501 game, you need to break that odd number score at some point. Meaning that you actually can't aim for all T20s. A popular choice to break the odd number is shooting for the 19 segment as it is the next largest pointing area. A single 19 or a T19 will be sufficient to lower your score to a nice, even number.

Also, keep in mind that if you're playing darts 501 with soft tip darts, your options for high scoring will be different. The entire bullseye counts as a double bull, or 50 points, and is a larger target to hit than the triple 20. As a result, most soft tip players will aim for the bull rather than the T20. We call this format 'Fat Bull' in the United States. When we emulate steel tip play, we call this format 'Split Bull' making the outside bullseye ring worth only 25 points and the inner circle worth the full 50 points.

Remember that winning darts 501 is just a numbers race — who can get to 0 points the fastest? But in games, it's not as easy and simple as that. Before you can win, you must be aware of doubling out, the dangers of a bust and common checkouts.

In darts 501, you must double out to finish the game. To find out what double you'll need to close out your darts 501 game, take your current score and divide it by 2 — that's the double you'll need to hit.

For example, 24 points left would require a double 12 to win the game. The highest darts 501 double out you can achieve is a double bull for 50 points while the lowest double out would be a double 1 for 2 points. If your score is above 50 points, you'll need to score a few more darts before you have a low enough score to double out.

In order to win darts 501, you must reduce your points to exactly 0 by doubling out. If you exceed the amount you need to end the game (in other words you'd have a negative score), that is called a bust. The points that would've been earned from your entire round won't count and you'll need to re-attempt the same checkout on your next turn, starting with the score you had in the turn before you busted. This puts you at a huge disadvantage!

For example, you have 51 points left and need to use your first dart to hit the 11 leaving 40 remaining (commonly known as "Tops"). Your second dart misses the double 20 and lands into a single 20. Now you have 20 points remaining (double 10). With your third dart you attempt double 10, but unfortunately miss into the double 15 instead for 30 points reducing your score to negative 10 (below 0). You have now busted your round and have to attempt a 51 checkout again on your next turn, giving your darts 501 opponent more time to catch up or even beat you!

Let's say you have 115 points left. How will you finish the game? A checkout describes the total points needed to score in one turn (3 darts) to completely finish a darts 501 game at 0 points left over. Because there may be several different combinations to achieve a certain score, there can be multiple checkouts for one number. For a 115 checkout, you can finish with a T20, 15, and D20, or you can go T19, 18, and D20.

The highest darts 501 checkout you can attempt is a 170 checkout (commonly known as "The Big Fish". There is only one way to hit a 170 finish which is T20, T20, double bull. As you can see, a 180 checkout is impossible because you need to double out to win the game and three T20s are required for 180 points.

In Cali West's darts 501 series, she provides her own out charts available for download in the video description with options for 50 up to 99. If you're looking for a poster to hang up in your dart room, our brand Colonial Darts offers a complete out chart poster with different checkouts for each number! Check out the product below:

Knowing your checkouts can guide your darts 501 strategy towards victory. Math is huge in this game, so recognizing all potential outs or working toward a specific out will help ensure that you don't get lost or overwhelmed with all the numbers. At the end of the day, though, it doesn't matter how you finish your darts 501 game. Once you end on 0 points, you've already won the game regardless of whether you went one way or another.

As with cricket, it is possible to get a perfect game of darts 501 in just 9 darts! It's called a 9 dart finish, or a 9 darter, and many pros have been able to achieve this extremely difficult task in televised events, including legends like Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries, Beau Greaves, Fallon Sherrock and more.

The most common method of achieving a 9 darter in darts 501 is by first scoring three T20s with your first 6 darts for a total of 360 points. You'd be left with a 141 outshot for your final 3 darts, which can be approached in different combinations. Here are some examples for different checkout combinations for that 141 outshot:

• T20, T19 and D12
• T20, T15 and D18
• or T17, T18, and D18

Dubbed "the best leg of all time", Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen went head-to-head at the 2023 World Championship Final where both players were on track for a 9 darter in one darts 501 game. In the last round, MVG missed one of his darts while Michael Smith completed his 9 dart finish, making that leg of darts the most iconic in all of darts history. Watch the legendary match recap above from the PDC's Youtube channel.

Practicing your doubles and triples is crucial for success in any darts 501 game. If you're looking for ways to improve your darts 501 skills, we got you covered with some of the best practice routines:

Darts 501 is seriously addicting. There's a reason why it's the most popular darts game! As you dive deeper into your darts journey, we're here as your partner in darts to support you. We hope this blog helped you master the basics of darts 501, and stay tuned for more darts games and practice routines on our blog!