🎯Glossary

Terms

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180 180

The maximum score obtainable with three darts in one turn, achieved by hitting treble 20 with all three. Famous for the long, drawn-out call from the caller on television broadcasts. It comes up several times in a single professional match but remains a notable event even at club level.

Barrel Barrel

The metal body of a dart, actually gripped by the hand, and the part that decides most of a purchasing decision. A higher tungsten content lets a barrel be made thinner at the same weight, which aids grouping. Steel-tip barrels typically run 20-26 grams; shapes are commonly described as straight, torpedo or bomb.

Big fish Big fish

A nickname for the highest possible checkout with three darts, 170. There is only one route: treble 20, treble 20, then the bullseye. Commentators use the term whenever a player is left on 170, and hitting it becomes the highlight of that match. Nothing above 171 can be finished in three darts.

Bogey number Bogey number

A remaining score that cannot be checked out with any combination of three darts. There are seven of them: 159, 162, 163, 165, 166, 168 and 169. The gap exists because the maximum single-dart score is 60 and the maximum finishing dart is 50. Professionals plan their scoring shots to avoid leaving one of these numbers.

Bounce-out Bounce-out

A dart that strikes a wire, an already-lodged dart, or the board surface and falls to the floor. It scores nothing and cannot be re-thrown. Modern boards with blade-style wire, replacing older round wire, have cut this down significantly, but it still happens, and a bounce-out during a checkout attempt is regarded as one of the cruellest moments in the sport.

Break of throw Break of throw

Winning a leg while not throwing first, the darts equivalent of a break in tennis. At professional level, holding your own throw is the baseline expectation, so a match is often effectively decided by a single break. It's why TV commentary describes scorelines in terms of holds and breaks.

Bristle board Bristle board

The steel-tip dartboard, made from compressed sisal fibre so the material closes back up after a dart is removed, leaving no visible hole. Tournament regulation size is 451mm in diameter with a 340mm scoring area. It cannot be substituted for the plastic electronic boards used in soft-tip darts, which differ in both throwing distance and dart type.

Bull-up Bull-up

The procedure used before a match to decide who throws first: both players throw one dart at the bullseye, and whoever lands closer throws first. Also called "diddle for middle." Throwing first gives a real one-leg-ahead advantage toward the finish, so in a short match this single throw can decide the outcome.

Bullseye Bullseye

The target at the dead centre of the board. The inner circle, the inner bull, scores 50 and counts as double 25 for checkout purposes; the outer ring, the outer bull, scores 25. Some soft-tip machines don't distinguish between the two. It's also the spot both players aim at during the bull-up that decides who throws first.

Bust Bust

The result when a turn's darts take the remaining score below zero, leave exactly 1, or (under double-out rules) reach zero without the final dart being a double. The entire turn is voided and the score reverts to what it was before the turn began. Because a bust on the first dart voids the other two as well, players deliberately aim low when a score is awkward to avoid the risk.

Checkout Checkout

Bringing the remaining score to exactly zero to win the leg, or the specific route used to do it. Checkout percentage — successful attempts divided by total attempts — is tracked as closely as scoring average, and the top players on television sit at 35-45 percent. A checkout chart listing recommended routes for every score up to 170 is usually the first reference sheet a beginner keeps.

Count-Up Count-Up

A soft-tip practice game in which a player throws 24 darts across eight rounds and adds up the total score. The theoretical maximum is 1,440. Beginners aim for 300, an experienced amateur for 400-500, and advanced players for 600 or more; it is considered the purest test of raw scoring ability.

Cricket Cricket

A game using only the numbers 15 through 20 plus the bullseye. A number is closed once hit three times, and a player can keep scoring on any number they've closed until the opponent closes it too. Trebles count as three hits and doubles as two, and skill is measured by average marks per round rather than total score.

Dartitis Dartitis

A psychological block in which the hand freezes and cannot release the dart, or the release fires erratically — the same phenomenon as the yips in golf. Eric Bristow suffered from it at his peak and never won another world title afterward; Berry van Peer's 2017 case brought it back into the spotlight. There is no agreed cure; players try adjusting grip, weight and routine in search of relief.

DARTSLIVE DARTSLIVE

A Japanese-made brand of networked soft-tip dartboard widely used across East Asia. Tapping a dedicated card against the machine saves every game to a server, updates a player rating, and allows online matches against players at other venues or in other countries. It is not compatible with rival systems, so players generally pick a card based on which machine their regular venue uses.

Double Double

The thin outer ring of the board; hitting it doubles the score for that segment, so double 20 scores 40. The 50-point inner bullseye also counts as a double (double 25) for finishing purposes. Under steel-tip 501 rules, a leg must be finished on a double, which makes double accuracy effectively the deciding factor in most matches.

Double out Double out

The rule requiring the final dart that brings the score to exactly zero to land on a double or the inner bullseye. This is the standard for professional steel-tip play; soft-tip machines can toggle it on or off. Because of this rule, simply scoring heavily isn't enough — a player has to plan ahead to leave a good double, such as 32 or 40.

Flight Flight

The plastic or nylon fin fitted to the rear of a dart, which stabilises its path in the air. Wide standard flights slow the dart and lift the tail for stability; narrow slim flights fly flatter and faster, aiding tight grouping. They wear out and need replacing often, and for a few pounds they change the feel of a dart more than almost any other part.

Grouping Grouping

How closely three darts land together on the board. It is the most intuitive measure of skill — whether the three darts cluster together matters before whether they hit the intended target. Improving grouping lets a player simply shift their aim point to raise their score. Already-lodged darts can deflect the next one, so professionals throw with a slight deliberate angle to compensate.

Hat-trick Hat-trick

Hitting the bullseye with all three darts in a single turn. The term comes from cricket, and three inner bulls together score 150. Soft-tip machines flag it with a special on-screen animation and log it separately. In a Cricket-format game, it's also a decisive way to close the bullseye number outright and swing the match.

House tournament House tournament

A small in-house competition run by an individual pub or bar. Entry fees are typically modest, and events are usually split into skill divisions by rating so newer players have a realistic shot at winning their bracket. In many darts scenes, this is the practical mechanism that keeps casual players coming back, and often the only competitive experience a player has before entering an open tournament.

Leg Leg

A single game starting from 501 (or another agreed number) down to exactly zero — the basic unit of a match, roughly equivalent to a game in other racket sports. Professional matches are usually decided by first to a set number of legs, and the World Championship final groups legs into sets of three. How many darts a leg takes to finish is a direct measure of skill; 12 darts is world class.

Madhouse Madhouse

A nickname for being left needing double 1, or 2 points, to finish. It's the narrowest finishing target on the board, and missing it to hit single 1 leaves exactly 1 point remaining, a score that cannot be finished on any double, forcing a wasted dart just to get back to an even number. It's one of the oldest pieces of pub-darts slang.

Master out Master out

A rule requiring the finishing dart to land on either a double or a treble, one notch looser than double-out. It's common in soft-tip tournaments. Sitting between open-out, which has no restriction, and double-out, checking which rule applies before a match matters, since it changes how you plan your last few darts.

Nine-darter Nine-darter

A perfect leg finishing 501 in just nine darts, the most famous route being 180, 180, then a 141 finish via treble 20, treble 19 and double 12. John Lowe threw the first one shown live on television in October 1984, earning a £102,000 bonus. Soft-tip machines log the feat under the same name with a separate record.

Oche Oche

The throwing line a player must not step on or over while throwing. Measured from the board face, it sits 2.37m away in steel-tip darts and 2.44m in soft-tip. It's usually a strip of tape or a raised bar on the floor. Leaning the upper body forward past the line is allowed, which is why professionals throw from such an extreme forward-leaning stance.

Open out Open out

A finishing rule with no restriction on the last dart — hitting exactly zero in any segment ends the leg — also called straight-out. It's often the default on casual soft-tip machines, which can trip up someone who only knows steel-tip double-out rules and wastes darts chasing an unnecessary double. Tournaments generally switch this off in favour of double-out or master-out.

PHOENIX Darts PHOENIX Darts

A South Korean brand of networked soft-tip dartboard that, along with DARTSLIVE, dominates soft-tip venues across parts of East Asia. Games and ratings are tracked through a dedicated card, with online matches and league play available through the platform. Cards and apps are not interchangeable with rival systems, so players tend to pick a card matching their local venue's machines.

Rating Rating

A skill grade assigned by a soft-tip machine based on recent results. Systems typically use numbered tiers calculated from average score per dart in 01-style games and average marks per round in Cricket. Most house tournaments and local leagues use these ratings to set skill divisions, so a lower rating is actually an advantage for a newcomer entering their first event.

Set Set

A group of legs, with the first to win a set number — commonly three — taking the set. The PDC World Championship final is played first to seven sets, meaning a champion may need to win 60 or more legs across a single evening. Many tournaments are decided purely by legs rather than sets, so it's worth checking the format before a match.

Setup dart Setup dart

A dart thrown deliberately at a specific segment, not to score maximum points but to leave a preferred double for the next visit, when the remaining score can't be finished in the darts left this turn. A textbook example is throwing treble 15 from 81 to leave 36, setting up double 18. Invisible to the casual viewer, it's the clearest technical marker separating a strong amateur from a professional.

Shaft Shaft

The connecting rod between barrel and flight, sometimes called a stem. A longer shaft drops the tail and flattens the trajectory; a shorter one shifts weight forward for tighter grouping. Available in aluminium, plastic or carbon, and cheap enough to swap for a few pounds, making it the first thing worth testing before buying a new barrel.

Soft-tip darts Soft-tip darts

A format using a plastic-tipped dart thrown at an electronic board, the standard in much of East Asia and common in North American bars. Scoring is automatic and online records are kept. The throwing distance is 2.44m from the board face, with the bullseye at roughly 1.72m height — both slightly different from steel-tip — and the darts themselves are lighter.

Stance Stance

The way a player stands at the oche. Common options are side-on (fully sideways to the board), a 45-degree semi-open stance, or fully square-on; there's no single correct choice. What matters is that the front-foot position and shoulder angle stay identical throw after throw. Darts scattering left and right is usually a sign the feet, not the grip, have shifted from the previous throw.

Steel-tip darts Steel-tip darts

The traditional format using a metal-tipped dart thrown at a bristle board, used across the entire professional circuit including the PDC. Throwing distance is 2.37m, and scoring is done by hand or eye rather than automatically. Someone who started on soft-tip typically needs a few weeks to adjust, since the throwing distance is roughly 7cm shorter and the darts are heavier.

Three-dart average Three-dart average

Total score divided by darts thrown, multiplied by three — the headline measure of scoring power. Club players typically sit in the 40s to 60s, a PDC tour-card holder needs an average in the mid-90s, and anything over 100 on a televised match is an excellent performance. The record televised average is Michael van Gerwen's 123.40, set in 2016.

Tip Tip

The point at the front of a dart. Soft-tip darts use a plastic tip that snaps and needs regular replacement, usually bought in bulk packs; a broken tip lodged in a board's hole can stop that segment registering. Steel-tip darts use a metal point, which some players file down periodically to reduce bounce-outs.

Ton Ton

Scoring 100 or more in a single turn. Scores from 100 to 150 are logged as a "low ton" and 151 or above as a "high ton," a distinction soft-tip machines track separately. The word comes from British slang for 100, a holdover from the era when scoring a hundred in one turn at the pub was itself the benchmark for a good visit.

Torpedo Torpedo

A barrel shape that is thick at the front and tapers toward the rear. The forward centre of gravity gives a stable flight path and is forgiving for beginners whose release is still inconsistent, though the thicker front tends to widen grouping slightly compared with a straight barrel of even thickness, which trades the opposite way.

Treble Treble

The thin inner ring of the board; hitting it triples the score for that segment. Treble 20 is worth 60, the single highest-value target, and the ring itself is only about 8mm wide. The addition of this ring around 1913 completed the modern scoring system still used today.

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