Checkouts
Darts Bogey Numbers
Seven scores below 171 have no three-dart finish: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159. Every other score in that range can be checked out. Landing on one costs you a visit, so the skill is spotting it and scoring down deliberately.
The seven, and what to throw
The mistake is never landing on a bogey number — it is not noticing and throwing at treble 20 hoping for a finish that does not exist. Each of these has an obvious first dart that leaves a comfortable checkout.
| Score | Throw | Leaves | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| 169 | T20 | 109 | T20S19D15 |
| 168 | T20 | 108 | T20S20D14 |
| 166 | T20 | 106 | T20S20D13 |
| 165 | T19 | 108 | T20S20D14 |
| 163 | T19 | 106 | T20S20D13 |
| 162 | T20 | 102 | T20S20D11 |
| 159 | T19 | 102 | T20S20D11 |
Why they cannot be finished
A three-dart checkout needs the last dart to be a double, so the first two darts have to leave an even number between 2 and 40, or exactly 50 for the bull.
Take 159. The most two darts can score is 120, from two treble 20s, which leaves 39 for the last dart — odd, and not a double. Drop to T20 and T19 and you have 117, leaving 42, which is above the 40 ceiling for a double and is not 50. T19 and T19 gives 114, leaving 45. Every pairing either overshoots the double range or leaves an odd number. There is no combination that works.
The same arithmetic rules out the other six. They cluster in the 159 to 169 band because that is exactly where the two-dart scoring ceiling and the 40-point double ceiling stop overlapping cleanly.
The near misses
What makes bogey numbers feel arbitrary is how close their neighbours are. 160, 161 and 164 all finish, and they sit right between numbers that do not.
| Score | Finish |
|---|---|
| 170 | T20T20Bull |
| 169 | Bogey — no finish |
| 168 | Bogey — no finish |
| 167 | T20T19Bull |
| 166 | Bogey — no finish |
| 165 | Bogey — no finish |
| 164 | T20T18Bull |
| 163 | Bogey — no finish |
| 162 | Bogey — no finish |
| 161 | T20T17Bull |
| 160 | T20T20D20 |
| 159 | Bogey — no finish |
| 158 | T20T20D19 |
Note how many of the finishable ones need the bull. 167, 164 and 161 all end on the inner bull because nothing else reaches, which is the one situation where going for the bull is correct rather than lazy.
How this changes how you score
Good players think about the bogey band a visit early. If you are on 220 and about to throw, a 60 leaves 160 (finishable), but a 61 leaves 159 (not). That is not something you can aim for precisely, but it does change what you do with the third dart of a visit.
The general rule that avoids most of the trouble is the same one that governs every leave: aim to leave an even number you know a route from. 170, 160, 140, 120, 100 and 80 are all comfortable. The bogey numbers are all odd or awkward, and steering towards round even leaves keeps you out of them by accident.
See the full checkout chart for every finish from 2 to 170, or the checkout calculator to check a specific score.
