Checkouts
The Nine Dart Finish
A nine-darter is a leg of 501 won with nine darts, the fewest the rules allow. It needs a three-dart average of exactly 167, and the usual route is 180, 180, then 141 finished as treble 20, treble 19, double 12.
Why nine is the floor
The highest a single dart can score is 60. To finish, the last dart must be a double, and the highest double is the 50 bull.
With eight darts the ceiling is seven trebles and a bull: 7 × 60 + 50 = 470. That is 31 short of 501, so eight darts cannot get there no matter what you hit.
With nine the ceiling is 8 × 60 + 50 = 530, comfortably above 501, and 501 can be composed exactly inside it. Nine is therefore the minimum, and it is achievable rather than merely arithmetic.
The standard route
Two maximums, then a 141 finish. Six of the nine darts go at the same target, which is why this is the route almost every nine-darter uses.
| Visit | Darts | Scored | Left |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T20T20T20 | 180 | 321 |
| 2 | T20T20T20 | 180 | 141 |
| 3 | T20T19D12 | 141 | 0 |
141 is a genuinely comfortable finish, which is the point. Reaching 141 after two maximums leaves a route through the same treble 20 the player has already hit six times, then a treble 19 next door, then double 12.
Other legal routes
Any three visits summing to 501 with a legal final double will do. These are the ones that come up in practice.
| Visits | Finish |
|---|---|
| 180, 180, 141 | T20T19D12 |
| 180, 174, 147 | T20T19D15 |
| 180, 171, 150 | T20T20D15 |
| 174, 180, 147 | T20T19D15 |
| 167, 167, 167 | T20T19Bull |
| 180, 177, 144 | T20T20D12 |
The 167, 167, 167 route is the curiosity: treble 20, treble 19, bullseye, three times over. It is legal, symmetrical, and requires three bullseyes, which is why nobody attempts it deliberately.
What it takes in practice
The hard part is not the finish. Plenty of club players can take out 141 on a good day. The hard part is arriving at it, because two consecutive 180s is already a rare event for anyone.
A useful way to see it: a player averaging 100 — full professional standard — is throwing at roughly 60% of the scoring rate a nine-darter requires. The gap between good and perfect in darts is unusually wide.
If you are working on the finishing half, the checkout chart covers every route from 2 to 170, and the practice games page has drills that isolate doubles.
