How To Play Darts

Are to you an avid dart player?  Or a first-time dart player?  Well, whether you have or haven’t played darts before, there are some important things that you must learn about the game of darts.  Just like the other sports, darts has its own rules and set of standards.  So, if you want to know how to play darts correctly, then have a read through the articles we have available  for you.

Dartboard Layout
If you are not familiar with darts, you should first become familiar with the layout of the dartboard.  It is usually set up with the bulls eye exactly 5 feet 8 inches from the floor.  It also measures 18 inches in diameter and is divided into 20 sections.  The portion marked 20 is always centered at the top. 

The dartboard is basically divided into segments: the single, double, triple, and the bulls eye.  The first three segments are generally the highlighted segments and they only differ according to the valued points, while the bulls eye is the main target in the darts game for this has a high value of 50 points.

As an example if your dart lands in the triple 20, you would score 60 points, and in fact three treble 20's is the highest achievable score with one go.

The Basic Steps
Now, how to play darts?  First, you must hang the dartboard so that the center is 5 feet 8 inches from the floor.  Then, before you can play darts, you must first mark the throwing line, commonly known as oche (pronounced ockey), perhaps with the nonskid tape.  Note that to properly play darts, the line should be 7 feet, 9 ¼ inches from the face of the board.  This rule is actually covered under the World Darts Federation.

To play darts make sure that the tape mark lies so that the front edge is the actual line.  To put it simply, the darter may step on the tape, but not past it.  Also, it is necessary to consider that to play darts correctly, each darters must have three darts to throw on his turn.  To identify who will take the first turn, each player in the team must throw a dart.  The team with the dart closest to the bulls eye gets the first turn.

Before the first player to play darts takes his turn, a warm up is usually suggested.  This is commonly done by alternating throws until every person has thrown nine darts.  Then, once the game starts, each player must take his or her turn by throwing the three darts.

Be sure to add up the score, and note that each portion of the board has a number, and that number is the dart’s score. If you play darts in a pub or suchlike you will find a small blackboard to the side of the darts board, and here you would chalk up the remaining number your team mates (or you if playing one on one) need to score.  If when you throw your dart, it misses the board completely, it is still counted as one of your three, but no score is given.   

Today, there are a number of dart games and they all vary depending on the standards.  The most simple of them allows players to throw five sets, and whoever has the highest score wins.

Often you will agree to finish on a double and a lot of teams also start on a double.  Should you get to the stage where you need for example 16, and you miss the double 8 and hit say the bull, then you are bust and start the next go with the same score - or the next player in your team will start his go with the original 16 still to obtain.