What are the bogey numbers in darts and how do you avoid them?

The rule that creates bogey numbers

Bogey numbers only exist because of the double finish. The World Darts Federation's Playing and Tournament Rules say each leg is played with a double finish: to win, a player must land a dart in the double ring or the bull, for the number equal to half of the remaining score. The bull counts as 50, and as double 25 when 50 is what you need. The Darts Regulation Authority's rule book, which governs PDC events, says the same thing in its own words: the finish at zero must be on a double, and the bull counts as double 25 when 50 is required.

Both rule books also apply the bust rule. If a throw scores more than you have left, reaches zero without finishing on a double, or leaves a score of one, it doesn't count and your score goes back to what it was before that throw. One is the only score that can never be finished, because no double is worth a single point. Every checkout therefore ends on a double, worth an even number from 2 to 40, or on the bull's 50.

Why these seven scores

The most a single dart can score is treble 20, worth 60, so two darts can make at most 120. Add the bull and the biggest possible finish is 170, which MyDartFinder's checkout chart lists as treble 20, treble 20, bull. Anything above 170 can't be finished in one visit at all.

Just below 170 the options get thin. To finish 169 the last dart would have to be the bull, leaving 119 for the first two darts, or a double worth 40 or less, leaving at least 129, which two darts can't score. Near the top, two darts can make 120, 117, 114 or 111, but never 119. The same arithmetic rules out 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159. Meanwhile 170, 167, 164 and 161 survive by ending on the bull, and 160 is treble 20, treble 20, double 20. The Dart Scout offers a shortcut for this band: from 159 to 169, the bogeys are exactly the scores ending in 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 or 9.

Because the list comes from the scoring rather than from anyone's opinion, it is the same on every chart. Darts Checkout Assistant takes the idea further. It defines a bogey as a score that can't be taken out in as few darts as a higher score can, which makes 109, 108, 106, 105, 103, 102 and 99 the two-dart bogeys. Each is exactly 60 below a three-dart bogey, and the pattern repeats every 60 points for longer finishes.

How to avoid landing on one

The danger usually comes one visit earlier, when you are a little above 170 and throwing at treble 20 out of habit. The Dart Scout uses 229 as its example: treble 20 leaves 169, a bogey, while treble 19 leaves 172. That isn't a finish either, but it isn't stuck. Its rule of thumb for the 170 to 200 range is to check whether treble 20 would drop you onto a bogey and switch to treble 19 if it would.

It is just as important to think about where a missed dart lands. Darts Checkout Assistant's example is 186 with one dart in hand: aim at treble 20 and the likely miss, a single 20, leaves 166, a bogey. Aim at treble 19 and the single leaves 167, which is treble 20, treble 19, bull on the next visit. The same page has a neat case for 220 after two darts with the treble 20 blocked: treble 19, 18 and 17 all leave bogeys (163, 166 and 169), but the bull leaves 170.

What to do when you are already on a bogey

You can't win the leg this visit, so the job changes: leave a score you can finish next time in as few darts as possible. MyDartFinder's guide points out that two-dart finishes, one treble or single followed by a double, decide most legs, and recommends learning the 41 to 99 band first. From a bogey, a two-dart finish is the realistic target.

Better still is leaving a double you like. MyDartFinder singles out double 16 and double 20, and explains why 32 is such a popular leave: a dart that misses double 16 into the single 16 leaves 16, then 8, then 4, then 2, all still doubles. From 169, for example, treble 20, treble 20, single 17 leaves exactly 32. The Dart Scout notes that the chain from double 20 breaks sooner, since missing into the single 20 leaves 20, then 10, then 5, an odd number with no double.

None of this is a law. The Dart Scout puts it simply: the best double is the one you hit most often. Charts show a sensible default, and plenty of players set up a different double on purpose because they trust it.

Common mistakes around bogey numbers

Throwing treble 20 on autopilot between 170 and 230. That is how most players arrive on 169 or 166 in the first place. A quick subtraction before the visit is cheaper than a wasted turn afterwards.

Forgetting which bull counts. Only the inner bull is a double. The outer ring scores 25 and, under both the WDF and DRA rules, can't finish a leg, so 25 is never a checkout in one dart.

Leaving yourself on one. Scoring down to 1 is a bust under both rule books, so the throw doesn't count. It usually happens when a player chips away at an odd number without a plan.

Waiting to be told the double. The WDF rules say the referee, caller, marker and scorer give no indication of the double required: they call 32, not double 16. Knowing your routes, bogeys included, is the player's job.

Practising until the numbers are automatic

Bogeys stick when you have had to answer them, not just read them. A useful habit is to call out scores between about 150 and 230 and decide, before throwing, both where to aim and what a likely miss would leave.

If you want something to check your answers, DartDrill does that on a phone: type a score and its board lights the recommended route dart by dart, or tells you that a number such as 169 can't be finished in three darts and suggests T20, T20, S17 to leave 32. Bogey numbers also come up in its quiz, where the right answer is a Not possible button.

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