Darts Tournament Bracket

Playing 501: the standard game

Each player or team starts a leg on 501 and subtracts the total of each three-dart turn. The first to reach exactly zero, finishing on a double or the bullseye, wins the leg.

• Bust: if a turn would take you below zero, to exactly 1, or to zero without a double, the whole turn doesn’t count and you stay on your previous score.
• Who throws first: throw one dart each at the bull; closest starts the first leg, and the start alternates each leg after that.
• Match length: best of 3 legs (first to 2) is the everyday bar format. Semifinals and finals often go to best of 5.

Soft-tip machines often play 501 with an open finish, so any dart that hits zero exactly wins. 301 is a shorter game, often played double-in, double-out: you can’t start scoring until you hit a double.

Cricket: the other bar favorite

In cricket, the targets are 15 through 20 and the bull. Hit a number three times to close it: a single counts one mark, a double two and a triple three. Once you’ve closed a number your opponent hasn’t, every extra hit on it scores its value in points. You win by closing everything with as many points as your opponent, or more.

Cricket rewards accuracy over big scoring, so it evens things out between casual and experienced throwers. Many leagues alternate: 501 for the singles legs, cricket for the doubles. Either way, the bracket counts legs, so the same setup works.

Blind draw doubles

A favorite weekly darts event is the blind draw (or luck of the draw): everyone signs up alone, and partners are drawn at random. It mixes regulars with newcomers and keeps the same pairs from winning every week.

To draw teams here, paste all the names, tap shuffle, and join each two consecutive names into one line, like “Jess & Omar”. With an odd number, the house can supply a player, or the odd thrower can partner a late arrival. Then pick double elimination and you’re ready.

Boards, setup and timing

• Steel tip: the bullseye is 5 feet 8 inches off the floor, and the throw line is 7 feet 9¼ inches from the face of the board.
• Soft tip: the same board height, with the throw line at 8 feet.
• Timing: a casual 501 leg takes 5 to 10 minutes, so plan about 20 minutes for a best of 3 match.

A double elimination bracket has 2n − 2 or 2n − 1 matches, so 12 players play 22 or 23 matches, and 16 players play 30 or 31. With 4 boards, 16 players take about 12 rounds of play: roughly 4 hours at 20 minutes a match. On a tight night, play the losers side as a single leg of 501, or run a single elimination bracket, which needs only 15 matches for 16 players.

Running the night

• Number the boards so the next match knows where to go.
• Losers chalk. The tradition is that the loser of each match keeps score for the next match on that board, so every board always has a scorer.
• Call matches as boards open. The losers bracket plays more rounds, so feed it first when two matches are ready.
• Announce the final rules. In a true double elimination, a player coming from the losers side has to win the final twice. Say whether you’re playing that reset, and whether the final is best of 5.
• Keep the edit link at the desk and share the view link or QR code with players. The bar TV can show the bracket in TV mode.

Running pool on the same night? The pool tournament bracket works the same way with racks instead of legs. More on how the losers side works on the double elimination bracket page.

Darts leagues and round robins

For a season or a small office group, a round robin gives every player a match against everyone else. Six players make 15 matches over 5 rounds. The standings rank by matches won, then head-to-head, then leg difference, so a 2–0 win can count for more than a 2–1 when players finish level.