How to play 01: 301, 501 and the rest

Half of a league night is 01 (say “oh-one”). It is the simplest dart game to explain and the hardest to finish: you start with a number, subtract what you hit, and the first side to land on exactly zero wins the leg. The Queens leagues play 301, 401, 501, 601 and 701, depending on the league and the set.

The basics

• Each turn is three darts. Add up what they score and take it off your total.
• The thin outer ring doubles the number. The thin inner ring triples it. The outer bull is 25 and the inner bull is 50.
• A dart has to be in the board when you pull them to count. One that bounces out or falls before then scores nothing and can’t be thrown again.
• In doubles and triples, teammates share one total and throw in turn, alternating with the other side.

The most three darts can score is 180, three triple 20s. Most of the scoring is done on the 20, with the 19 as the fallback when the 20 is crowded or your darts are drifting left.

Who throws first

Each side throws one dart at the bull, and the closer dart goes first. That is called the cork. Throwing first is a real advantage in a short game, which is why a leg is often described as being won “with the darts” or “against the darts”.

In and out: what SIDO and DIDO mean

The game name on a score sheet has two parts: the starting number, and how you get in and out. The Queens leagues use these three.

The inner bull counts as a double, of 25. So you can start a double-in game on it, and you can finish on it with 50 left.

Going bust

You have to hit zero exactly. If you score more than you have left, your turn ends at once and your total goes back to what it was before the turn. That is a bust.

In a double-out game there are two more ways to bust:

• Leaving 1. There is no double worth 1, so a score that leaves you on 1 is a bust.
• Reaching zero without a double. With 20 left, a single 20 is a bust. You needed double 10.

A bust costs you the whole turn, including any darts you had not thrown yet. With 32 left, if your first dart lands in the single 16 you have 16 left and two darts at double 8. If instead it lands in the triple 16, that is 48, you are bust, and you sit down still on 32.

Setting up the finish

Once you are under 170 you are on a possible finish, and the game changes from scoring to arithmetic. Two ideas cover most of it.

Leave an even number that halves well. 32 is the favourite, because a miss into the single 16 leaves double 8, then double 4, then double 2, then double 1. You keep getting a shot without throwing a dart to fix your number. 40 (double 20) and 24 (double 12) are the other common targets.

Avoid odd numbers late. An odd total can’t be finished with one dart, so you spend a dart getting back to even. If you are on 57, a single 17 leaves 40.

The checkout chart lists the usual route for the common finishes.

Which game suits whom

The longer the game, the more it rewards steady scoring, and the less one lucky turn matters. 301 double in, double out is the opposite: it can be over in a few turns, and a player who can’t find a double to start may watch the whole leg from the line. That is why it is usually a singles game. 701 is usually kept for triples, where three players share the long run down.

Your scoring across all of these feeds one number, your 3-dart average. To see how a league night mixes 01 with cricket, read how a league night works.