Darts Terms

Don’t know your Bed and Breakfast from your Big Fish, or your Champagne Finish from your Mad House? Don’t worry. We have you covered in our Darts Terms Guide. The game of darts is filled with weird, wonderful and wacky phrases which sound more like Klingon or Parseltongue than English, especially for a darts newbie. You may have heard our darts ambassador Wayne Mardle on William Hill’s social media channels, or inside the darts commentary booth utter outlandish slang that surely can’t be related to tungsten chucking. But somehow, each terms has a very specific meaning and once you know them, you’ll be reeling them off on the oche with your friends.

Arrows: Alternative word for equipment used.

Bail-Out: A final dart treble. More specifically used when the first two darts weren’t high scoring.

Bed: Another name for segment. “They hit the double 16 bed”

Bed and Breakfast: Scoring 26 points by hitting a single 1, single 5 and single 20. A term used in darts leagues up and down the country

Big Fish: The 170 checkout. Treble 20, treble 20, bullseye. The biggest finish in darts.

Bogey: Landing on a number that can’t be checked out in three darts or less.

Break of Throw: Winning a leg when the opponent throws the first three darts.

Bullseye: The centre point of a dart board.

Bull Up: The process of deciding who throws first in a match. The player closest to the bullseye starts the match.

Busted: Hitting more points than what remained on your total.

Chalking: A person keeping score at the side of the board. Traditionally done by using chalk and a blackboard.

Champagne Finish: A big checkout usually at a crucial point of the game. The checkout will usually feature one, two, or on the rarest of occasions three bullseyes in the combination.

Check-Out: Total number of points scored by a player in their final visit to the oche in which a player wins the leg, with all legs having to finish on a double or the bullseye

Combination Finish: Checkout which requires use of two or three perfectly aimed darts rather than just one dart at a double segment.

Double-In: Starting a leg of darts by hitting a double segment.

Double-Out: Finishing a leg of darts by hitting a double segment or bullseye.

Double Top: Another terms for the double 20 segment.

Downstairs: The lower portion of the dartboard. Usually aiming at the 19 segment from the 20 segment.

Embroiled: When one player is of higher quality than the other, but the better player lowers standard making it a harder game to win.

Fallout: A dart falling out of the board after it’s been thrown.

Game On: Term said by referee or chalker to start a match.

Game, Shot: Words spoken by the referee or chalker after a player wins a match.

Grouping: Three darts landing in very close vicinity of eachother.

Leg: A game of 501 within a match.

Lipstick: The treble 20 bed.

Little Fish: Treble 20, single 20 and bullseye.

Madhouse: Finishing a leg on double 1.

Nine Darter: A perfect leg of darts. The pièce de resistance of dartistry.

Oche: Where players throw from. 7 feet 9 and 1 quarter inches away from the front of the dartboard.

One Hundred and Eighty: Three darts inside the treble 20 segment. The highest score possible from one visit to the oche.

Robinhood: A dart which lands in the stem of a dart which is already in the board.

Set: Three legs make up a set. If a match uses set play a target of sets will need to be reached in order to claim victory.

Shanghai: A finish in darts using each segment of a number e.g. single 20, treble 20 and double 20.

Ton-Up: Scoring 100 in a single visit.

Wiring: Hitting the wire just outside or inside the double.