BowmanSports·Free to play
Darts
Score as high as possible with nine darts on a board that refuses to sit still.
Sign in to save your scores and play history, or keep playing as a guest. Recent game activity and scores appear on the homepage with a masked email or IP address.
DartsScore0
Your best0
Time0:00
Keyboard & touch controls
Click / TapThrow at the crosshairSpaceThrow1 / 2 / 3Pick Nine Dart, 301 or Around the Clock before the first throwPPause
How to play Darts
Read the sway
The crosshair drifts in a slow loop around the board. Watch a full cycle or two before your first throw - You are learning its path, not fighting it.
Time your release
Click or tap, and the dart flies to wherever the crosshair is at that exact instant. There is no wind and no luck - Only your timing.
Know the board
It is a real layout: twenty numbered sectors, a doubles ring on the outer rim, a trebles ring partway in, a 25-point outer bull and a 50-point inner bull.
Hunt the treble twenty
The little treble-20 bed pays 60, the biggest single score in darts. It is fenced by the 1 and the 5, so a thin miss pays pocket change.
Adapt to the growing wobble
Each round of throws, the sway gets wider and faster. Nine darts total - The early ones are the calm ones, so spend them well.
This is our browser edition, adapted from ARCADENOW. Its artwork, tuning and controls may differ from other games with similar rules. Guest personal bests stay in this browser. Signed-in players can also save scores and play history to their private dashboard; there is no global leaderboard. Read about controls and local storage.
Choose a related challenge
Watch the crosshair at release before changing your timing. Carnival gives you moving targets and a limited supply of shots, so choosing when to fire remains the main decision.
What Darts is like to play
Darts gives you nine darts, a real tournament board, and one cruel twist: the crosshair will not sit still. It sways in a slow loop while you pick your moment, and with every round the wobble grows wider and quicker. The board is the genuine article - Twenty numbered sectors, a doubles ring on the rim, a trebles ring partway in, and the bull at the heart - So treble twenty pays sixty, and a flawless nine darts pays 540. Timing is everything: tap when the sway crosses your target and the dart lands exactly where the crosshair was, no excuses attached. Chase the big numbers early while your aim is steady, then decide how brave to be once it is not. Our version adds smooth touch and mouse play, keeps your best nine darts saved in this browser, and widens the sway every round so a steady arm early is worth more than a brave one late. Free in your browser, no download, no chalk required.
Darts at a glance
| Genre | Arcade Sports Games |
|---|---|
| Challenge | Controlled release under sway |
| Pace | Aim wobble grows every round |
| Original era | Pub arcade dartboards |
| Players | Single player |
| Controls | Click / Tap, Space, 1 / 2 / 3 |
| Cost | Free, with no account and no download |
Where Darts came from
Darts grew up in English pubs, most likely from soldiers and archers throwing shortened arrows at upturned barrel lids and slices of tree trunk, where drying cracks became natural scoring lines. By late Victorian times it was a pub fixture, and the modern board's devious numbering - Every big number fenced by small ones - Is traditionally credited to Brian Gamlin in 1896. The countdown game of 501, with its double-out finish, became the standard test of a straight arm.
The 1980s electrified the pub game twice over. On television, darts boomed into a spectator sport of nicknames and walk-on music. In the bars, Arachnid - Founded in Rockford, Illinois in the mid-1970s - spread the electronic soft-tip machine: plastic-tipped darts, automatic scoring, and coin-op league play, with its Galaxy series eventually becoming the standard machine of soft-tip leagues worldwide.
Darts folds that whole lineage into a browser tab. The board is the real layout with doubles, trebles, and both bulls; the swaying crosshair stands in for a nervous throwing arm; and the widening wobble gives you something new to tame every round. Nine darts, one score to beat - The oche is wherever you are sitting.
Ways people play Darts
- 501 double-out
- The pub and tournament standard: count down from 501 and finish exactly on a double. The nine-dart finish is its perfect game.
- Cricket
- The American bar favorite - Close 15 through 20 and the bull before your rival does, part marksmanship and part territory war.
- Around the Clock
- Hit 1 through 20 in order. The classic practice routine that turns into a race the moment a second player picks up darts.
- Shanghai
- Score the single, double, and treble of the same number in one three-dart turn for an instant win - The flashiest finish in pub darts.
Darts questions and answers
How many darts do I get?
Nine, thrown in rounds of three - A quiet tribute to the nine-dart finish, the sport's rarest and most celebrated perfect game.
What do the rings on the board mean?
The thin outer ring doubles a sector's value and the thin inner ring trebles it. The outer bull scores 25 and the inner bull scores 50 - the standard layout used in pubs and on television.
What is the maximum possible score?
540 - Nine darts, all in the treble 20 for 60 apiece. If you ever throw it, no later round will ever top it.
Why does the crosshair wobble more over time?
The growing sway is the difficulty curve. Early darts test your timing gently; the last round tests whether you can stay patient when the aim is practically dancing.
Where should I aim when the wobble is bad?
Drop from treble 20 to the 19 or the bull. Wide misses around the 20 land on 1 and 5, while misses near the center and the 19 keep respectable value.
Is this the same as 501?
No - Darts is a pure high-score game across nine darts. In pub-standard 501 you count down from 501 and must finish on a double; here, every point simply climbs.
Does the sway follow the same pattern every game?
No. Each game starts the crosshair on a fresh loop, and the wobble widens and quickens with every round. You learn to read the sway, never to memorise it.
Can I play Darts on a phone?
Yes, and it feels great - Tap the screen to release the dart at the crosshair's current spot. One clean tap per throw, no dragging or flicking needed.
If you like Darts, try these next
Four games from the same shelf, each with its own pace. The one-line summaries are how their own pages describe them.
| Game | What it is like | Pace | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowman | Two archers, one wind, no second place. | Slow aim, fast consequences | Play |
| Carnival | Step right up - Ducks, stars and one sneaky bonus train. | Rows speed up, targets shrink | Play |
| Archery | Ten arrows, a crosswind, and a very smug bullseye. | Wind strengthens arrow by arrow | Play |
Sports games: aim, practice, repeat.
Compare drag shots, timed kicks and live puck returns before trying to improve the score.
