DARTS: Game ON!

My kids were playing Darts today, just before their school van arrived. After they left for the school, I looked at the darts board and wondered if there is any better strategy (for an amatuer, like me) than just focusing on one number (or one segment or the center) and throwing the darts….

First, let’s understand the game…

First, let us look at the darts board in detail:

Now for fun!

• Inner Bull (0.2 in^2) is 1/6 the area of the Total Bull (1.25 in^2)
• Outer Bull (1.05 in^2) is 5x larger than the Inner Bull (0.2 in^2)
• Bullseye is 6x the area of the Inner Bull
• Triple is 2x the area of the Inner Bull ( Triple is 1/3 of a Bullseye)
• Double is 1.5x the area of the Triple (3x Inner Bull, 1/2 Bullseye)
• Inner is 3.5x the area of the Double (12x Inner Bull, 6x Triple, 4x Double, 1.9x Bullseye)
• Outer is 1.5x the area of the Inner (16x Inner Bull, 9x Triple, 6x Double, 3x Bullseye)

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Now you know the details, So, How do you play darts?

Darts is played with a variety of different rules and game types with the most popular games being cricket and ‘01’ games. All dart games are played by taking turns throwing all three of your darts at the board from behind the oche line. Cricket games are race-style games where players must hit the numbers 15-20 and the bullseye three times each. ‘01’ style games (301, 501, 701 etc) are fixed score games where players take turns adding their scores attempting to reach the specified 01 number exactly.

How do you throw darts?

To throw darts, comfortably hold the dart with at least three fingers with the end of the dart aligned to your target on the dart board. Throw the dart using your hand, wrist, and elbow. Only your arm should move when you throw the dart. Follow through with your throw after releasing the dart with your fingers pointing towards the target.

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As an amateur, can I find some Not-So-Bad (NSB) strategies that would give me an advantage and lead to a win?!

To start with, let’s assume the player doesn’t care about the triple or double ring, instead, he/she is aiming for the Bull’s eye (center)!

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Is that a good strategy?

Let’s look at the possible points according to the quadrants on the board and evaluate it…

The quadrant metrics help(?) us identify promising regions to aim and if the average differences between the numbers in that quadrant are less, then it is a good thing, right?

Does anything I say makes sense?

Do you follow my stream of thoughts?

• Do you think we should focus (by ranking) on Quadrants 4, 3, 1 and 2?!
• Also, don’t you think the quadrants ranking would not be much affected by the triple or double rings??

Should I try to hit sector 4 than trying to hit the center?

• If one is given only three chances then it is better to focus on the center than the quadrants, as averages and medians only make sense if N (number of chances/tries) is large…

• If you miss hitting the Bull’s eye (the center) your scores could be wild (as the dart can be in any of the quadrants…), No?
• For an amateur do you think it is better to focus on the outer segment (because it has a larger area, [outer = 1.5*Inner] it would be easier to hit, and also it has Double and Triple points chance)?

What is your strategy?!