Darts Glossary

Every term you will hear on a televised broadcast, from "oche" to "madhouse". Designed to be read in full for a newcomer, or scanned for a single definition by anyone who already follows the sport.

80+ entries British and international usage Verified 15 April 2026

A-C

Scoring and calling

180: The highest possible three-dart score: three treble-20s. Called by the caller with extreme emphasis on the word "one hundred and EIGHTY!"
Average: Three-dart average. A player's mean score per visit of three darts, calculated as (total points scored / darts thrown) × 3.
Bed: The section of a number on the dartboard. "Three in the bed" means three darts in the same 20 segment - 60 points.
Big fish: A 170 checkout - the highest possible three-dart finish (T20-T20-Bull). The name comes from its rarity.
Bull / bullseye: The centre of the board. Outer bull = 25. Inner bull (bullseye) = 50.
Bust: Going below zero, or hitting one and leaving zero without a double. The score resets to what it was before the visit.
Caller: The official who calls out scores and announces the game on televised matches. Russ Bray was the best known.
Checkout: Finishing a leg on the correct double. Also refers to the number you finish on (e.g. "a 124 checkout").

D-H

The oche and the throw

Dartitis: A sudden inability to release the dart at the correct moment. Eric Bristow suffered from it from 1987 and never fully recovered.
Double: The thin outer ring. A successful finish must land in a double (or the inner bull, treated as a double 25).
Double in / Double out: Starting or finishing on a double. Most major events are straight-start, double-finish.
Double top: Double 20. The most commonly aimed-at double.
Finish / Out-shot: The combination required to check out on a given number. A "124 finish" is T20-T16-D8.
Grouping: How closely the three darts land. A tight grouping in the treble 20 is the mark of good scoring.
High finish: Any checkout of 100 or more in three darts. 170 is the maximum.

L-O

Legs, sets and the madhouse

Leg: One game to zero from 501.
Set: A collection of legs, used at World Championship level. A set is typically first to three legs.
Madhouse: Double one. The double you get left on when everything has gone wrong. Named for the experience of being stuck there.
Match average: Three-dart average for a whole match, the headline stat used to compare performances.
Maximum: Another word for 180.
Nine-darter: The lowest possible number of darts to win a leg of 501. Darts' equivalent of a 147 break.
Oche: The line behind which the player must stand to throw. 7ft 9.25in (2.37m) from the face of the board. Pronounced "ockey".
One-dart finish: A checkout that only needs one dart. The player has reached a double on their previous visit.

P-T

Players, shanghais and tons

Premier League: The PDC's long-running weekly roadshow, 16 nights plus Play-offs. Featured the single-invitation format from 2005 to 2023, then revised to fixed 8 players in 2022-present.
Shanghai: A single, double and treble of the same number in a single visit. Worth 6x the number (e.g. a shanghai 20 = 120).
Shot: A successful finish. "Game shot!" is called when the leg has been won.
Stage: Walk-on stage used for televised events. Used as shorthand for top-level televised darts as opposed to floor events.
Straight-start: Format where the leg starts from 501 without needing to hit a double first.
Ton / ton-80 / ton-40: Ton = 100. Ton-80 = 180. Ton-40 = 140. Ton-plus = any visit of 100 or more.
Tour Card: Two-year PDC membership earned through Q-School or the Development Tour that allows entry to all PDC ranking events.
Treble / Triple: The thin inner ring on each number. Worth three times the number. Treble 20 = 60, the single highest scoring zone on the board.

U-Z

Walk-ons and wire

Walk-on: The player's entrance at a televised event, with walk-on music, walk-on girls (removed from PDC televised events in 2018 onwards), and crowd hype.
Wire: The thin metal dividers on the dartboard. A dart that hits wire bounces out and scores zero. Hated word.
Wooden spoon: The last-placed player in the Premier League or any round-robin group.
World Championship: The top annual event. Today refers primarily to the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace in December-January.