Dart Rules

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Dart Rules

by Steve Porter

Now there are a lot of local variations on the rules of darts, causing lots of heated debate I’m sure, but these are the general rules as laid out by all of the darts organisations and are pretty clear.

Firstly what types of darts can be used?

Well the rules state only that the maximum weight should be 50 gms and maximum length cannot be longer than 12 inches. 12 INCHES! Good grief, they seem more like mini javelins to me.

Another rule that can case heated debate is the bounce out rule:

The rule is that all bounce outs do not count towards your score and NO you cannot have another throw. Not only that, but if the dart falls out before the score has been taken it does not count either. I suggest you throw your darts harder if you keep suffering from this rule.

As for the throw line, that is set at 7 ft 9 ¼ inches: now where did that come from? But you can lean over as far as you like providing your feet are behind that throw line or toe line as it is sometimes called.

The height of the board shall be 1.73 metres or 5 foot 8 inches to the centre of the bull

Also the wire dividers determine what score you have Not the colour on the board. So if you land on a bit of red triple outside of the wire separator for that triple, that counts as a single not a triple.

You must throw the darts one at a time at the board and in a straightforward 501 game the score is counted down until the player reaches zero, but to finish the game you must throw a double to reach that zero.

And don’t forget the Bust rule, if you get more or one less than you need to go out, the score is voided and your score remains the same as when you started the throw

Also note the score must be decided upon BEFORE the darts are pulled out of the board.

Some basic rules for Cricket, The numbers used for cricket are 20 thru 15 and the bull. To score in cricket you must close out a number so that you can start scoring on that number. To do that you need to score three of that number, be it three singles or a double and a single, or if you are really good one triple. You can score on that number until it is closed out by the opposing player (s)

To win the game you must close out all numbers and the bull first and have a higher score than your opponent(s) If you or your team have closed out all the numbers but have a lower score than your opponent(s) the game continues until you achieve a higher score than your opponent(s) OR they close out all the numbers with a higher score

Some of the more interesting rules

During match play, any Players using offensive language or deemed to be “mouthing” any offensive language or seen to be making offensive gestures shall be deemed to have brought the Sport of Darts into disrepute and shall become liable to Disciplinary Proceedings being taken against them by the DRA.

And From the ADO

At the tournament director’s discretion, women may be recycled in mixed doubles and triples events only. (Obviously women are greener than men!)