How to Play Cricket Darts

Walk into almost any bar in the United States with a dart board on the wall and the game being played is cricket. Not 501, not 301. Cricket.

Cricket is a game of closing numbers and scoring points on them before your opponent can. You only use seven targets: 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and the bullseye.

If you learned darts from watching TV, cricket can feel backwards at first. Nobody counts down from 501, and a triple 20 is sometimes worthless. Give it two games and it clicks. This page covers the standard rules, how the scoreboard works, the cut-throat variant, and the handful of tactics that separate people who win at cricket from people who just throw at it.

On this page:

1. Cricket Darts Rules in Brief
2. Marks: How You Close a Number
3. Scoring Points
4. Keeping the Scoreboard
5. How a Game of Cricket Ends
6. Cut-Throat Cricket
7. Other Cricket Variants
8. Cricket Strategy
9. Common Questions

Cricket Darts Rules in Brief

Two players or two teams. Each turn is three darts. The targets are the numbers 15 through 20 and the bull. Every other segment on the board is dead.

• To close a number you need three marks on it. A single is one mark, a double is two, a triple is three.
• Once you have closed a number that your opponent has not, every further hit on it scores you points: the face value of the number, or 25 and 50 for the outer and inner bull.
• Once both players have closed a number, it is dead. Nobody scores on it any more.
• The game ends when one player has closed all seven targets and has at least as many points as the opponent.

That is the whole rulebook. The rest of this page is detail and tactics.

Marks: How You Close a Number

Think of each of the seven targets as a small three-step ladder. You climb it with marks.

A triple 20 with your first dart closes the 20 outright. So does a double 20 followed by a single 20. It does not matter how the three marks arrive, only that you reach three.

Marks carry over between turns. Two marks on the 18 this visit, one more next visit, and the 18 is yours.

The bullseye is the exception to the usual doubling. The inner bull counts as two marks, not three, because there is no triple bull. Closing the bull with a single dart is impossible. You need at least two darts there.

Scoring Points

Closing is only half the game. The other half is what you do with a number once it is closed and your opponent's is still open.

Say you have three marks on the 20 and your opponent has none. Every 20 you hit from now on is worth 20 points to you. Hit the triple and it is 60 points in one dart. Keep doing that and your opponent has a problem: they cannot win while you are ahead on points, however many numbers they close.

Points only come from a number that is closed for you and open for them. The moment they close it too, the tap turns off.

Extra marks beyond the third roll straight into points. A double 19 when you already have two marks on 19 closes the number with one mark and scores 19 with the other.

Keeping the Scoreboard

Cricket is easiest with a chalkboard or a whiteboard, and the layout is always the same. Write the targets down the middle, one player on each side.

The symbols are standard across the country:

• A slash / is one mark.
• A cross X is two marks.
• A circled cross Ⓧ is three marks. The number is closed.

Points go underneath, as a running total. Electronic boards do all of this for you, which is one reason cricket is so popular on soft-tip machines.

How a Game of Cricket Ends

Two conditions have to be true at the same time:

1. You have closed all seven targets.
2. Your points total is equal to or higher than your opponent's.

Closing everything while you are behind on points does not end the game. You have to keep throwing, and the only way to score now is on numbers your opponent has not closed. If they have closed everything you have closed, you are stuck: you cannot score, and you cannot win until they overtake themselves. In practice, a player who closes out while behind has usually already lost.

This is why point management matters more than raw accuracy. Someone who closes the 20 early and racks up 100 points on it can afford to be sloppy on the 15 and 16. Their opponent has to close the 20 just to stop the bleeding, and then still make up the deficit somewhere else.

Cut-Throat Cricket

Cut-throat cricket flips the scoring. Marks work exactly as above, but points you score on an open number go onto your opponent's total, not yours. The winner is the first player to close all seven targets with the lowest score.

With three or more players cut-throat is often the better game. In standard cricket with three players the leader usually gets ganged up on, and in cut-throat that ganging up is built into the rules: hit a number that two opponents still have open, and both of them take the points. Nobody wants to be the one with the 20 still open when the best thrower in the room finds their rhythm.

Other Cricket Variants

No-points cricket

Marks only. First player to close 15 through 20 and the bull wins. Quick, friendly, and good for beginners who are still learning to hit the numbers at all. Some bars call it "quick cricket" or "close-out".

Tactics

The British cousin of cricket. Same seven targets but with doubles and trebles added as their own rows on the scoreboard: you need three doubles and three trebles of any number to close those rows, and they score 2 and 3 points per extra hit. Longer, more tactical, and the version you will meet in UK pubs.

Wild Mouse and Mickey Mouse

Regional names for cricket played on 20 down to 12 (or 20 down to 10) plus doubles, trebles and bull. More numbers means longer games and more chances for a comeback.

Scram

A two-player game that borrows cricket's marks. One player is the blocker and tries to close numbers 1 to 20; the other scores freely on any number not yet closed. When everything is closed they swap roles, and the higher score wins. There is a fuller description on my list of darts games.

Cricket Strategy

I coach a lot of 501 players who assume cricket is the easy game. It is not, it is just a different game. A few habits make a big difference.

Open with the 20, then decide

The 20 is worth the most, so both players usually go for it first. If you close it before your opponent gets a mark, throw at it again immediately. Twenty points a dart is the best return on the board, and every point you bank is a point they must chase.

Take points before you take numbers

Beginners see six open numbers and try to close them all as fast as possible. Better players bank a lead first, because a lead changes what the opponent has to do. If you are 80 points up, your opponent cannot end the game until they either close your scoring number or score 80 of their own. Either way, they are playing your game.

Know when to shut a number down

The reverse is also true. If your opponent is scoring on the 19 and you are behind, closing your own 19 kills their income. Sometimes that is more valuable than opening a new number of your own. The question to ask on every visit is: where is the damage coming from, and can I stop it with these three darts?

Save the bull for last, usually

The bull is the hardest target and gives the fewest points per dart for most amateurs. Unless you are a strong bull thrower, leave it until the numbers are settled. The exception is when your opponent is close to closing out and has the bull open; then every dart you have at the bull is a dart that keeps the game alive.

Count the marks you need

Before each turn, count how many marks it would take to close out. If it is three or fewer, and you are level or ahead on points, go for the close. If you are behind, you need points first, and the darts should go to whichever open number is worth the most.

Common Questions

Can you win cricket without scoring any points?

Yes, as long as your opponent has none either. Close all seven targets and the totals are 0 to 0, which counts as equal, and the game is over.

What happens if I hit a number my opponent has closed but I have not?

It counts as a mark for you. You just do not score any points on it, because the number is closed on their side.

Does the triple 20 count as three marks in one dart?

It does. Three marks means the number is closed. If you already had marks on it, the extra ones become points: with one mark already on the 20, a triple 20 gives two marks to close it and 20 points from the third.

Is cricket a good game for practising 501?

It is excellent for the triples, because you spend the whole game throwing at the top of the board. It does nothing for your doubles. Mix it with practice routines that force you onto the outer ring, or your finishing will lag behind your scoring.

Why is my 501 friend so bad at cricket?

Because cricket punishes the habit of throwing at the 20 no matter what. The moment the 20 is dead, a 501 player often keeps hitting it out of reflex. Watch for that, and enjoy the points while they figure it out.

Cricket is the game most Americans actually play, and it rewards thinking as much as throwing. Once the marks and points make sense, read up on the rest of the games you can play on a standard board, or go back to the rules of 501 if you want the version you see on television.

If you want a second pair of eyes on your game, book a coaching session or email [email protected].