QUICK ANSWER
In 501, both players start on 501 points, take turns throwing three darts, and subtract each visit’s score from their total. The first to reach exactly zero wins, and the final dart must land in a double.
Go below zero, land on 1, or hit zero without a double and you “bust”: the whole visit is wiped and your score resets to where it started. That’s the entire rulebook. The rest is strategy.
501 is the game. It’s what the professionals play on television, what league night runs on, and what most people mean when they say “a game of darts”. The rules take a minute to learn. Below they’re laid out properly: the double-out finish, the bust rule stated precisely, a complete leg worked dart by dart, and the strategy that separates throwing from playing.
How does 501 work?
Every player starts on 501. You throw three darts per turn, called a visit, and whatever those three darts score gets subtracted from your total. If you score 60, you go from 501 to 441. Your opponent does the same, and you alternate until someone reaches exactly zero.
The catch is the finish. You can’t just grind down to nothing: the dart that takes you to zero must land in a double, the thin outer ring of the board, or the inner bullseye. That single rule shapes everything about how the game is played. These are the standard PDC and WDF rules, so what you learn here is exactly what runs at every level from pub board to Alexandra Palace.
Starting, scoring, and finishing
Straight start vs double in
Standard 501 is straight-in. Your first dart counts, no qualification needed. You’ll sometimes hear about “double in” formats where scoring only begins once you’ve hit a double, but in the professional game that variant survives in exactly one event, the PDC World Grand Prix. Everywhere else, just start throwing.
The double-out finish
To win, your final dart must land in a double and bring your score to exactly zero. On 40, that means double 20. On 32, double 16. The inner bullseye counts as a double worth 50, so 50 is a legal one-dart finish. The outer green bull ring, worth 25, is not a double and can’t finish a leg.
The lowest finish in the game is double 1, worth 2 points. The highest is 170: treble 20, treble 20, bullseye, a finish the sport calls the Big Fish. And a handful of scores can’t be finished at all in three darts, the so-called bogey numbers: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162, and 159. Leave yourself one of those and the best you can do is score down to something finishable.
The bust rule
There are exactly three ways to bust, and knowing them precisely saves arguments.
Going below zero
You have 32 left and hit single 15 then treble 12. That’s past zero. Bust.
Landing on exactly 1
No double is worth 1, so a score of 1 can never be finished. Leaving it is an automatic bust.
Zero without a double
You have 10 left and hit single 10. You reached zero, but not on a double. Bust.
When you bust, the entire visit is cancelled. Your score reverts to whatever it was before your first dart, even if the bust came on dart one, and your turn ends immediately. You don’t throw the remaining darts. Next visit, you’re back on the same number, hopefully with a better plan.
IMPORTANT
A bust never costs you points you’d already banked in earlier visits. It only wipes the current visit. If you started the turn on 48, you’ll start your next turn on 48, no matter how badly the three darts went.
A full leg, dart by dart
Here’s a complete, realistic leg from a decent pub player, with running totals. Follow the right-hand column down and you’ll see the shape of every 501 leg: score heavy early, then steer toward a double.
| Visit | Darts | Scored | Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20, 20, 5 | 45 | 456 |
| 2 | 20, 20, 1 | 41 | 415 |
| 3 | T15, 20, 20 | 85 | 330 |
| 4 | 20, 20, 20 | 60 | 270 |
| 5 | T20, 20, 20 | 100 | 170 |
| 6 | T19, 19, 19 | 95 | 75 |
| 7 | 15, 20 (setup) | 35 | 40 |
| 8 | Double 20 | 40 | 0 (game shot) |
Two moments in that leg matter more than the maximum. Visit 6 switches to treble 19 territory to pull the total into finishing range while dodging an awkward leave. Visit 7 doesn’t chase the finish at all: 75 is an ugly number to check out for an amateur, so the player takes 35 on purpose to leave 40, the friendliest double on the board. That deliberate setup shot is the single biggest idea beginners miss.
Beginner strategy: where should you aim?
For the scoring phase, park your darts at the 20 segment and stay there. The treble 20 pays 60, the best return on the board, and even the fat single 20s add up respectably. Wandering around the board chasing whatever feels lucky is the fastest way to lose legs slowly.
One refinement is worth stealing early: if your darts spray left and right of the 20, the neighbours are 1 and 5, and your visits will swing wildly. The 19 next door lives between 7 and 3, so a miss still pays. Plenty of improving players score on 19s until their grouping tightens. Our guide to common darts mistakes covers that trade-off in detail.
The other beginner rule: know the double you’re heading for before you need it. Doubles are even, so keep your score even as you descend. An odd score always costs you a dart to fix, because you must hit an odd number before you can finish.
Intermediate strategy: setting up your finish
Once you can hit what you aim at more often than not, 501 stops being a scoring contest and becomes a routing problem. The skill is leaving yourself a good number, and good numbers share a property: they give you a second chance.
The classic leaves are 32 (double 16), 40 (double 20), and 24 (double 12). Their magic is what happens when you miss into the single: from 32, a single 16 leaves double 8. From 40, a single 20 leaves double 10. The number halves and stays finishable without an extra correction dart. Compare that with a leave of 39: you need a single first no matter what, and one loose dart can strand you on 1 for a bust.
SCOUT TAKE
From 170 down, professionals aren’t thinking “score” or “finish”, they’re thinking both at once: every dart either finishes or improves the leave. Adopt that habit at 100 and under. Ask before every dart: if this lands, what’s left, and can I finish it?
Checkout routes are their own subject, and the standard combinations are worth memorising a few at a time. The 501 checkout strategy guide maps the full finishing system, and the how to hit doubles guide works on the dart that actually closes legs.
Common 501 mistakes
Three errors show up in almost every beginner leg. First, ignoring the even-number rule and drifting onto awkward odd scores late in the leg, then burning darts to fix it. Second, aiming at the double too early: from 120-odd, an amateur is better served scoring down to a clean two-dart range than lobbing hopeful darts at treble-double combinations. Third, panicking after a bust. A bust costs you one visit, nothing more. Players who tilt after busting usually donate the next visit too.
There’s also a quiet scorekeeping mistake: doing the subtraction after throwing instead of before. Decide what you want to leave before you step up, then throw at the plan. The maths is easier at the table than mid-throw.
Why do you start at 501 and not 500?
Because of the double-out rule. Doubles are even numbers, so your score must be even before the final dart. If the game started on an even 500, a player could sit on the 20 segment all leg, never touch an odd number, and stroll to a finish. Starting on 501, an odd number, forces every player to hit at least one odd score on the way down. It keeps the whole board in play.
It also protects the sport’s showpiece. A perfect nine-dart leg needs variety by design: the classic route runs six treble 20s for 360, then treble 20, treble 19, and double 12 to close the remaining 141. Before the professional era standardised 501, the common pub game was actually 301 with a double required to start and finish. The modern format kept the finish and dropped the awkward start.
501
the odd starting score that forces every player off the 20s at least once
170
the highest possible finish: treble 20, treble 20, bullseye
7
bogey numbers that cannot be finished in three darts
Frequently asked questions
Why do you start at 501 in darts?
The odd starting number stops players from finishing a leg without ever hitting an odd score. Doubles are even, so the score must be even before the final dart, and starting on 501 guarantees at least one odd hit on the way down. It keeps players moving around the board.
What does double out mean?
The dart that brings your score to exactly zero must land in a double: the thin outer ring of a numbered segment, or the inner bullseye, which counts as double 25. Reaching zero any other way is a bust and the visit doesn’t count.
What happens if you bust in 501?
Your score goes back to what it was at the start of the visit, all darts from that visit are cancelled, and your turn ends immediately. You bust by going below zero, landing on exactly 1, or reaching zero without finishing on a double.
Does the bullseye count as a double in 501?
The inner bull (red, 50 points) counts as a double and can finish a leg, which is how the 170 maximum checkout works. The outer bull (green, 25 points) is not a double and cannot end a game.
What scores can’t be finished in three darts?
Seven bogey numbers: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162, and 159. No combination of three darts finishes them, so if you’re left on one, use a dart to move to a finishable number instead.
Is 501 the same game the professionals play?
Yes. Standard straight-in, double-out 501 is the format used across professional darts, including the World Championship. The only major exception is the World Grand Prix, which adds a double-in rule where scoring starts only after you hit a double.
That’s 501: start on an odd number, score in visits of three, keep your total even as you descend, and finish on a double without busting. Learn the bust rule cold, steal the setup-shot habit from the worked leg above, and the game opens up fast. When you’re ready to go past the rules, the checkout strategy guide handles the finishing system, and our tour of every dart game worth playing shows what else the board can do. The full rulebook across formats lives in dart rules explained.
