x01. (ie, 301/501/601/1001)

01 is normally played one vs one or team vs team.

01 (or x01) is the standard dart game. Here in Texas, over half of the games you play in any kind of organized darts (whether you are shooting league, or tournaments) will probably be some version of 01. In England (and for that matter, in most countries) 01 is the standard, and other games, like cricket, are rarely if every played in any kind of serious competition.

There are several versions of the game. 301 & 501 are probably the most common. I’ve seen 601 and 1001 in competition darts several times, and 701 in "for fun" games. 301 is usually double-in. 501 is usually straight start. All are double-out.

It’s a simple game. Two players/teams start with the same score. (Say, 501.) They take turns throwing, and after each throw, you reduce your score by the number of points you hit. (So if you start at 501, and hit two twenties and a five, you now have 456 remaining.) The first team to reach zero – exactly zero – is the winner.

The only real catch is that the last dart, in order to win the game for you, must put you at exactly zero (not below), and that dart must be a double. (With 40 left, you need to hit a double 20. If you hit a single 20 on the first dart, you’ve now got 20 left and need to hit a double 10 to win.) (Note : soft tip doesn’t require a double-out, but I’m not writing about soft-tip. All steel tip 01 games are double out.)

In some versions of the game, you must also start with a double. It can be any double, but any dart thrown before the double won’t count. So if you hit a double-20, 20, 20 to start, you score 80. But if you hit 20, 20, double-20, you score 40, as you hadn’t doubled in until the third dart. Generally, 301 and 601 are played double-in, and 501 is played using a straight-start, where you don’t have to double in. 301 is usually played when playing singles. 501 can be played as singles, or partners. 601 and 1001 are normally played as partners games.

There are several versions, such as 301, 501, 601, and 1001. The goal in each of them is to reach exactly 0. Not below 0 – you have to be exact. (Hitting more points than what you’ve got left is called a "bust", and essentially you get nothing on that throw, and stay with the same score you started with.)

Soft tip rules don’t require you to double out, and allow you to go out on a single, double, or triple, as long as the score leaves you at exactly 0, but as mentioned before, this introduction is intended to discuss steel-tip darts.

Strategy? In the early part of the game, there isn’t much strategy. You want to score as many points as you can on every throw. Usually that means throwing at the 20’s or the 19’s and hitting as many of them as you can. In a double-in game, you have to double-in, of course.

Later in the game, strategy does come into play. For instance, if you have 120 out, you should start on 20's, because a triple-20 and a single-20 would leave you 40 left with one dart left. If you throw at 19’s, even if you hit four of them, you don’t get to an out. Similarly, if you have 90 left, throwing trip-18, double-18 is normal.

As a more extreme case, lets say you’ve been throwing 20’s for points, you’ve got two darts left to throw, and you’ve got 95 left. In that case, you shouldn’t throw at the 20’s, because even if you hit the triple, it doesn’t get you to a one-dart out. Instead, you should throw at triple-19, because if you hit a triple-19, it leaves you needing a double-19 to win the game. If you hit anything other than a triple 19 (no matter what you intended) then you won’t be able to reach a one-dart out, which means your opponent gets another shot.

There are a lot of outs possible in three darts. Most (not all) of the numbers from 2 to 170 can be hit using three darts or less. Most dart pubs have "Out Charts" on the walls (usually underneath the dart boards) which will help you figure out what to throw at. They will list suggested outs for every out. Often, of course, there are several ways you could reach 0, and as long as it works, any of them will win. However, there are reasons to prefer some outs over others (I’ll call them "good" outs) and there are a number of ways to improve your chances of getting to a "good" out fast.

The good outs are 32 and 40 and 50. 40 is the highest number you can take out with one dart on the regular numbers. You can take a 50 out, and when you’re first getting down to outs that’s often important when you can’t reach any other one-dart out, but can get to 50 with a dart left to throw. That gives you a chance to win (with a double bull) before your opponent gets another shot. It’s not really ideal, it’s just that it’s the first double-out you can get to. 40 is the next highest, and it also divides in ½ several times before you’re odd. For instance, if you hit a single, it leaves 20 left. If you then throw at double-10 and hit a single-10, you have 10 left. Only if you then hit a single-5 do you end up with an odd number. Odd numbers are not good for you, because you can’t double out, so you have to throw a set-up dart to get even again, and then hit a double.

32 is mathematically perfect. It divides in ½ over and over. 16, 8, 4, 2. That means that if you keep hitting singles while trying to double-out, you keep being left with a one-dart out.

Compare that to, say, 38, which requires a double-19. If you hit a single 19, you then have 19 left. (An odd number.) In order to go out, you have to throw two darts – one to get even, and one to double out.

In that situation, with 19 left and two darts, you should throw a 3, leaving 16 with the first of those two, and then a double-8 to win. Why a 3 to leave 16, instead of say a 1, leaving 18? Because 16 is part of the 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 series, where if you hit the single, you still have an out. If you leave yourself 18, you’re back in the situation where if you hit a single you’ve left yourself odd. It’s not a requirement, but setting up to the numbers in that series gives you better chances to win.

If you’re a new player, don’t let yourself think "This doesn’t matter to me, as I hardly ever hit triples anyway" or anything similar. It does matter – it’s the essence of the game. In order to win, you want to take every advantage you can. If you’ve got 45 left, you should throw at 5 or 13. My choice would be 13, which leaves 32, because 32 is the best out I can get to on one dart. Some players may choose to throw a 5 to leave 40. Either way, you don’t want to say "I’m not at an out, so I’ll just keep throwing 20’s like I’ve been doing." If you hit a 20, you’ll have 25 left, and still won’t be able to go out on one dart. A general rule is that starting at about 120 and below, you need to throw every dart based on "if I hit what I’m aiming at, does it get me down to an out". And, as I mentioned, you should generally try to set up one of the "ideal" numbers once you are down low. When you are low, you should throw at whatever you need to get to a one-dart out. When you still have several hundred points, you don’t have a chance to go out yet, so you just want to score as many points as possible.

(Note : When you are under 60, you often need an "odd" or an "even" to get to a one dart out. The 8/16 wire, and the 6/10 wire are places where there are adjacent "even" numbers, which increases your chances. The 7/19/3/17 section at the bottom gives you a large section of odd numbers. Use those to your advantage.)

Most players, especially when starting, should use the out chart on the wall below each board.

There is an out-chart available on this page.

In the early part of the game, when you just want to score as many points as possible, most players will throw at 20’s or 19’s. Some newer players like to throw at 14’s, because there is a cluster of mid-level numbers in that area, so their misses tend to add up better. Next to the 14’s are 11’s, and 9’s. Compare to 1’s and 5’s near the 20, and 3’s and 7’s near the 19’s. But better players will score more on 20’s and 19’s. One trip 20 (or three singles) is 60 points. Compare that to 42 for three 14’s. I don’t recommend the 14’s, because they don’t add up fast enough if you’re able to hit what you’re aiming at and because if you want to be a competitive player, you have to learn to hit the 20’s or 19’s, so you should, in my opinion, put the time into them, not into 14’s.

One piece of terminology may be important. The term "ton" means 100. If someone hits 5 20’s (a triple and two doubles) then they’ve scored a ton. Scores over that also use the term. For instance, a ton-40 would be 140 points, and would be called a "ton-forty". When keeping score, it’s common to write a T (for ton) instead of 100, and some players may mark larger scores, such as the ton-40, using a T in the center of the number. (ie, 4T0. It makes more sense when the T is large enough to draw the cross-bar over the 4 and 0.)

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