Month: January 2025

Let’s play darts!!

In the 501 game of darts players take turns at throwing 3 darts to reduce their score to zero.

A “checkout” refers to the process of finishing a game by reducing a player’s score to exactly zero, by hitting a double or the bullseye (50 points) with the final dart.

For example, if a player has 40 remaining, they can hit the double 20 (D20) to win.

Here is an example of a 3 dart checkout:

120 : T20 20 D20    (treble 20, single 20, double 20)

  1. The maximum checkout is 170. How can you make this?
  2. For which numbers between 140 to 170 can you find a three dart checkout?
140 150 160 
141 151 161 
142 152 162 
143 153 163 
144 154 164 
145 155 165 
146 156 166 
147 157 167 
148 158 168 
149 159 169 

Most darts players like to aim to finish on D20, D18, D16 or maybe Bullseye.

  1. A player has 94 left with three darts. They aim for T18
  2. What is their checkout if they hit T18?
  3. What is their next dart if they hit a single 18 instead?
  1. Imagine you have three darts. Would you rather a score of 32 or 30 left? Think about what happens if you just miss D16 and get single 16 left versus just missing D15 and getting single 15.
  1. What checkouts can you find for three darts on 107? What would be the best option do you think?

Extra reading

Logic behind checkouts:

Checkouts Explained

Checkout game:

Darts Math Quiz application