How Do You Score in Darts? A Simple Guide to the Board and 501

To score a dart, use the number beside the segment it lands in, then apply the ring multiplier. Add the darts in your turn together. In 501, subtract that turn total from your remaining score.

Dartboard scoring at a glance

Where the dart lands	Score
Large single section	Face value of the number
Thin inner ring	Three times the number
Thin outer ring	Two times the number
Outer bull	25
Inner bull	50
Outside the scoring area	0

The thin inner ring is the treble or triple, while the thin outer ring is the double. The outer bull scores 25 and the inner bull scores 50. That makes treble 20—not the bull—the highest-scoring target for one dart at 60 points. DARTSLIVE illustrates the single, double and treble areas, while these 501 tournament rules specify the 25/50 split bull.

For example:

• Single 20 + single 5 + double 8 = 41
• Treble 20 + treble 20 + treble 20 = 180
• Treble 19 + single 19 + outer bull = 101

A dart that misses the scoring area scores zero. Under the cited steel-tip tournament rules, a dart also scores only if its tip remains in or touches the board inside the outer double wire until it is called and retrieved.

How to score a game of 501

Both players begin a leg on 501 and alternate visits of up to three darts. Add the points from a visit and subtract them from the player’s previous remainder.

The standard competitive format is straight start, double finish. Straight start means scoring begins with the first valid dart; no opening double is required. The WDF World Cup rules describe its games as “501 up, straight start and double to finish.” The same rules recognize either a double or the bull as the finishing dart.

To win, reach exactly zero with a double. The current Darts Regulation Authority rules define a game shot as a throw that lands on a double and reduces the player’s score to zero; their definition of a double includes the centre bull. See the DRA’s 2026 rule book.

Worked 501 example

Suppose you start on 501:

1. Hit treble 20, single 20 and double 10: 60 + 20 + 20 = 100. Your new remainder is 401.
2. Hit treble 20, treble 19 and single 19: 60 + 57 + 19 = 136. Your new remainder is 265.
3. Later, with 32 left, hit double 16: 32, leaving exactly zero and winning the leg.

Write the visit score and new remainder after every turn. If the arithmetic is slowing the match down, use this guide to darts chalking and subtraction.

What is a bust?

A bust cancels the entire visit, not just the dart that caused it. If you have 20 remaining and hit treble 7 for 21, you have scored more than required: the visit scores zero and your remainder returns to 20. The cited 501 rules state that an overscore leaves the player’s score unchanged from the previous round.

In double-out play, plan around the required finishing double. With 40 left, double 20 wins. A single 20 leaves 20, so double 10 would then finish. Local pub games and electronic-board settings may instead use an open-out format, so confirm the format before starting.

Record a useful scoring baseline

Use ten visits to turn the rules into a measurable first session:

1. Throw three darts at your normal scoring target.
2. Record each visit total, including misses.
3. Repeat for ten visits, or 30 darts.
4. Add the ten visit scores.
5. Divide the total by 10 for your average score per visit.

For the conventional three-dart average when you have not always thrown three darts, use:

points scored ÷ darts thrown × 3

The National Dart Association similarly calculates points per dart by dividing points by actual darts thrown. Its rules give 301 points in 12 darts as 25.08 points per dart.

Keep the setup and target unchanged when repeating this test. Record the total, average and number of visits above 60. Those three figures give you a clean baseline without confusing one lucky treble with consistent scoring.