Darts Checkout Calculator

In 501 and 301, you don't just score down to zero — you have to finish on a double(or the bullseye, which counts as a double for this purpose). Land on exactly zero with any other dart and it's a bust: your whole turn is wiped and your score resets to what it was before you threw.

That one rule is why checkout routes matter. A score like 40 could be reached a dozen different ways, but only a route that ends on a double — like double 20 — actually wins the leg. This calculator searches for the route that needs the fewest darts, and among routes of equal length it favors the ones players actually throw: big trebles to set up, and conventional doubles to finish.

The classic example is 32. It's a single dart away — double 16 — but even a miss keeps you in the game: a stray dart in the single 16 leaves you on 16, which is double 8. Miss that and you're on 8, which is double 4. That chain of halves (32 → 16 → 8) is why double 16 is the most popular leave in the sport, even though double 20 or double 18 score just as many points to set up.

The table below lists the standard route for every finishable score from 170 down to 41 — below 41, nearly every number is a simple two or one-dart finish (enter the score into the calculator above to see it). "T" means treble, "D" means double, a plain number is a single, and "Bull" means the center bullseye worth 50. Read each row left to right as the order you throw the darts, with the last dart always landing on the double that ends the leg.

The highest score reachable in three darts is 170 (two treble 20s and the bull) — anything above that always needs at least a fourth dart, no matter how you split it up. Below 170, seven scores fall into gaps in the arithmetic where no combination of three darts both adds up correctly and ends on a double: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162, 159. These are called the bogey numbers. For example, 169 would need exactly 119 from two darts before the bull (50), and no pair of darts totals 119; drop the bull for another double and the same gap reappears. If you land on a bogey number, the correct move is to score down to something else on your next dart rather than aim at the double straight away.

Leave yourself an even numberwhenever you can. Every double is an even number, so an even leave is always one dart from a finish, while an odd leave always needs an extra scoring dart first to turn it even. If you're not confident in a precise treble, it's often smarter to aim at a big single and deliberately leave an even number instead of chasing the statistically "correct" combination.

Among even numbers, the "halve-able" doubles — 40 → 20 → 10 → 5, and 32 → 16 → 8 → 4 — give you a backup plan built in. A miss on double 20 that clips the single still leaves 20 (double 10); a miss on that still leaves 10 (double 5). Favor leaves on these numbers over awkward doubles like double 19 or double 17, which don't reduce as cleanly if you miss.