The Game of 9 - Improve Your Cricket Average & 501 Accuracy
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Introducing a creative, fresh approach to darts practice — a routine we like to call the Game of 9! Intended for both soft tip and steel tip dart players alike that want to take their cricket scores to the next level. It's also perfect for those who love the darts 501 game and are looking to improve setting up for finishing. Follow along as we teach you in this blog all about the Game of 9.
Beginner's Guide to Cricket Darts
Before you learn how to play the Game of 9, it's important that you know how to play cricket darts first. Put simply, cricket is a darts game where not every dart counts — you can only throw at numbers 20 through 15 and the bullseye. Failing to hit all your marks will result in low scores, or worse: not scoring at all! The Game of 9 ensures you have the skills to back up each dart you throw in every game of cricket you play.
Read our beginner's guide on how to play cricket darts for a complete breakdown of the game objective, rules, and more! Just click the banner above or the button below:
The Game of 9 - Darts Practice Routine
A non-traditional darts practice routine, the Game of 9 is a truly humbling routine for players of all skill levels. In this video, Jen Mounts introduces the Game of 9 plus some throwing action to demonstrate how this routine should be played. Let's summarize everything we learn about the Game of 9:
The Goal
The goal of the Game of 9 is to improve your grouping skills and darts accuracy one segment at a time so you can confidently aim for trebles and doubles after mastering your ability to hit the larger single pie. Honing your grouping means that you won't have to spend as many darts to open, close, or score in cricket, leaving more room for error. Likewise, you won't need as many darts to checkout in darts 501 if you hit your intended target to set up a finish.
Completing the Game of 9 in your practice routine will ensure your skills are up to par. Your shots will be way more accurate after proving you're skilled enough to aim for the trebles and doubles in the first place. Not only will consistent trebles and doubles boost your cricket darts scores and your averages, but they'll also help you check out faster in darts 501. Trebles and doubles are super effective, so make sure to ace your Game of 9 routine and impress your friends at the next game night!
How to Play
Playing the Game of 9 seems easy enough, but it might actually be more challenging than you think! To play the Game of 9 for cricket darts practice, you must throw 9 darts in a row at a segment (taking 3 turns to do so), starting from 20 counting down all the way until 15, and lastly the bullseye.
Throw 3 rounds of 3 darts each at the number, retrieving your darts between each round.
The full pie of each number counts for marks, including the doubles and trebles — in other words, as long as your dart lands anywhere in the pie of that number, you're good. This mimics the way cricket darts games should be played. Once you finish throwing 9 darts in a row at the 20 (again, in 3 rounds of throwing 3 darts at a time like normal), move onto 19, and so on until you complete the Game of 9. If you mess up and your dart doesn't land where it needs to, don’t start from the beginning. Just start your count over on that number.
For the bullseye, we don't expect you to hit 9 darts perfectly in the bull while playing the Game of 9. Otherwise, we'd be wondering why you're practicing the Game of 9 instead of playing at the biggest pro tournaments!
Instead of trying to achieve Luke Littler levels of throwing, you should aim to at least get 1 bullseye mark per round (outer ring or inside) 3 times in a row.
If you're playing to practice your darts 501 game, start with 1 and work your way up through all the numbers. Play the Game of 9 the exact same way as you would for cricket darts, but this time including all segments of the dartboard. This will ensure you can set up any checkout! Even the pros miss the easy single pie number to set up a double out from time to time. Practicing consistency all around the dartboard is an essential discipline all darts players need to possess.
Improve Your Darts 501 Scoring
Looking for more ways (besides the Game of 9) to improve your 501 scoring? Cover shots, markers, and having the right practice mindset actually contribute heavily to your decision-making and success in 501. It's all part of the strategy and making the right calls. Dax Munna, our guest blog author, makes it easy to learn all about besting your 501 skills with his expert knowledge as a darts instructor.
If you're ready to take your 501 skills to the next level, click the image above or the button below for Dax's best 501 tips!
More Practice Routines
Loving the Game of 9 and eager to improve with even more practice routines? Watch our YouTube playlist of darts practice routines that can take your game to the next level! Just click the banner above or the button below for all our practice routines. Don't forget to subscribe!
Winmau Products
Curious about the Winmau products used in our soft tip demo of the Game of 9? Shop the Winmau Foxfire Urban darts range and the Winmau Fusion Flight & Shaft System below to upgrade your soft tip experience:
Dart Flights 101
If you're wondering what a flight and shaft system is (like the Winmau Fusion flight used in our Game of 9 demo), check out our Darts 101 blog on everything you need to know about dart flights! Just click the image above or the button below to expand your darts knowledge.
Final Thoughts
Missing the big pie segment when you're trying to hit a single is a mistake you won't want to make, especially in the middle of a heated game. The Game of 9 is the perfect routine to mix into your practice nights so you can avoid missing those important shots. We hope the Game of 9 will elevate your dart skills to the next step and help you ace your favorite darts games!
