Loops

Loops is good for 4 to 8 players. You can play with more, but it starts to take a long time between throws with that many.

Loops is essentially "follow the leader". It’s fairly similar to playing "Horse" in basketball. It’s usually a "late night" type of game, and is never used for team play, or in any kind of league/tournament play. It’s a fun game.

We normally play to 5 marks, but if it’s close to closing time, or if we have a lot of players, we sometimes play to 3 marks. The goal is to avoid getting marks. Once you’ve reached 5, you’re out of the game. (And the other players usually sing a song – "nah-hah-nah-nah, hey-hey-hey, goodbye!") The number of marks you are playing to should be marked on the scoreboard when the game starts, so everyone knows.

The game is called loops because in addition to the regular playing area, you can also use "loops" when leaving your opponent something to hit. For instance, the 20 has a loop inside the 0 of the 20. So does a 10. 4, 14, 6, 16, 8, 18, 10, and 20 all have loops. (The eights and eighteens have two small ones!)

Essentially, any area on the board with a wire all the way around it is a scoring area. Doubles, triples, "fat’s", and "skinney’s" for all of the numbers are each separate scoring areas. A single bull and a double bull are separate scoring areas. Each "loop" on the numbers is a scoring area.

This is a fairly hard game to describe, but it’s fairly simple to explain in person. In person, you can explain what they need to hit as they go, and they can watch how it works for the other players. By their second throw, most players understand the basics.

I’ll try to explain it as best I can – warning, it is long.

First, you make a list of players, and randomize the starting order. We usually do this with a two-dart lag. Each player throws two darts at one time, and adds their score. High score goes first, 2^nd highest 2^nd, etc. A randomized starting order is important in this game. he two-dart lag does a good job.

Each players "turn" consists of two stages. In stage one, they need to hit whatever the person in front of them left them. (If they don’t, they get a mark, and don’t get to do the stage-2 part on that turn.) In stage two, they try to hit something that will be hard for the player behind them to hit.

I think the easiest way to explain will be to walk through a couple of rounds of a four person game. Player 1 starts. Since he’s starting, he has an open board – he doesn’t have to hit anything, and therefore doesn’t need to do the stage-one part of the game. He starts at stage-two. He starts throwing, but may stop without throwing all three darts. He wants it to be hard for the player behind to hit whatever he leaves them. That could be a loop. It could be a bull, or a double 13, or a triple 1. They have to hit the exact section of the board he hit, as defined by the wires. So if he leaves them a triple-one, they have to hit a triple one or they get a mark. The "fat" part of a number (between the double and the triple) and the "skinny" part of a number (between the triple and the bull) are separate areas. If you leave someone a skinny 7, and they hit a fat 7, their fat doesn’t help. They’ve got to hit the skinny (or whatever it was you left them) to avoid getting a mark. Similarly, if you need to hit a single bull, and you hit a double, then you haven’t hit what you needed.

Back to the walk-through. Player one starts with an open board. Lets say he throws two darts at the loop-20, missing. On his third dart, he should throw at the bulls. He doesn’t want to miss off the board again (which is easy to do when throwing at loop’s) because that would leave an open board for the player following him, and because if your last dart is off the board (including darts that bounce!) then you get a mark. So his third dart goes at the bulls-eye. Lets assume he hits a single bull.

Player 2 is now up, and needs a single-bull. He throws three darts and misses with each of them. He gets a mark, and that leaves an open board to player 3.

Player 3 has an open board. On the first dart, he hits a double 20. At that point he stops, without throwing the other two darts. That leaves player 4 needing to hit a double 20.

Player 4 hits a fat 20, and then a double 20. He stops (without throwing the third dart) and pulls his first two darts. He made his mark, and now he throws the 2^nd stage, trying to leave something hard for the next player. He throws at bulls, missing, and hitting a skinny 9 on the third dart.

It’s now player 1’s turn, and he needs a skinny 9. If he can hit one on the first three darts, then he’ll pull his darts, and throw to leave something for player 2. If he doesn’t hit one on those three darts, then he’ll get a mark, and leave an open board for the next player.

Eventually, one player will have 5 marks and be out of the game. Lets say that’s player 2. After that, player 3 will follow player 1, 4 will follow 3, 1 will follow 4. This continues until there is only one player left, which makes him the winner.

QuickLinks :
Overview - Introduction to Darts
Index to Introduction to Darts
Beginners Only : Board set up and some basics.
Organized Darts (Tournaments and League's)
X01 and Cricket (The two basic games.)
Rules & Strategy : X01 (301, 501, etc.)
Rules & Strategy : Cricket
Rules & Strategy : Norvac
Rules & Strategy : Loops
Rules & Strategy : Super-Cricket (aka Full Board Cricket)
Rules & Strategy : Tic-Tac-Toe
Rules & Strategy : English-Cricket (bulls vs points)
Good Online Resources
Out Chart