Whether you play your darts in a pub, another venue or your watching at home you will hear some unusual phrases that have become part of the game's language. Many are organic and were coined by players and watchers over the decades. Others have been popularised by TV commentators adding colour since the 1970s.
Here are a selection that might be useful for any new watchers or those from outside the United Kingdom where such terms are almost part of the vernacular:
Arrows - Alternate for the tools of the trade and a shout out for a good turn. Example “(good) arrows.”
Bag Of Nails - A very poor turn.
Barrel - The main part of the dart which is where most players will hold when throwing. Made of tungsten, nickel-silver or brass.
Bed - Refers to each specific segment on the dartboard. For example, the treble 20 bed.
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Bed & Breakfast - Scoring 26 points in one visit, often with a single one, single five and single 20.
Big Fish - A 170 checkout (treble 20, treble 20, bullseye). The biggest three dart finish.
Bogey - A score that cannot be checked out in one turn (Eg. 159, 162, 163, 165, 166, 168 and 169).
Bounce Out - A dart that ends up on the floor after making contact with the board
Break (of Throw) - Winning a leg that your opponent threw first
Bullseye - The red centre segment on a dartboard (scores 50).
Bull Up - Used to decide who will throw first in a match. See How to Play 501…..
Bull Finish - When you win a game by hitting the bullseye.
Bust/Burst - Hitting more points than required to reach zero or win the the leg
Chalking - Keeping score of a game of darts initially using chalk and a blackboard. Later on pen on whiteboard and today you are likely to use a tablet or other electronic scorer. Also known as Marking.
Checkout - A checkout is a score that can be finished on a double in one visit to win the leg.
Double Out - Hitting the correct double segment to win a leg of darts.
Game Shot - Call to indicate the leg is over He/she will add…and the match when needed
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Grouping (Great) - A term used to highlight three darts being very close together in the dartboard.
Hold - When a player wins a leg that they threw first in.
Leg - Refers to a single game of 501 played within a match of darts.
Lipstick - Commentary term for the treble 20.
Madhouse - A term of frustration for the double one segment
Maximum - Another phrase for a 180
Muck Spreading - Three bad darts in different areas of the board
Nine Darter - A perfect leg of darts in 501 using nine darts to get from 501 to 0 (zero). Example: Two 180s followed by a 141 checkout.
The Best Leg Ever?
Oche - The throwing line players stand behind to throw their darts.
Robin Hood - When the point of one dart appears another dart already in the board, usually in the back of the flight.
Set - Some events including the World Championship use the set format. Here each set is best of 5 legs and then the match is best of a number of sets (occasionally sets are the best of 3 legs).
Shanghai - Refers to a player hitting the treble, double and single of the same number segment in one turn. The 120 (treble 20, single 20 and double 20) is known as the ‘Shanghai’ checkout.
Switch - When a player moves away from the 20’s segment for mathematical or visual reasons.
Ton - A 100 point turn.
Tops - Refers to the double 20.
Visit - Another phrase for each turn (when you throw three darts).
Wired - Term used by a player to describe a close dart - imply that it hit the wire
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