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Intro
Players take turns throwing darts until one player has successfully reached a score of 0. Any throw in the center bullseye area is valued at 50, while the outer ring shot is worth 25. On the other hand, a dart in the double or triple ring doubles or triples the score of the throw. The best way to shoot consistent darts is to feel confident when you are at the line. The best way to feel confident is to pay your dues. Practice your dart game using the practice guidelines on this site. Some people think that any practice is good practice. That’s just not good advice.
This article covers how to play darts cricket. If you want to learn the rules right away you can jump right to the “How To Play” section. Otherwise if you have some time I want to give you some background on the game.
If you are a beginner this may be a bit confusing so let me break it down. When I first got introduced to darts I was expecting it to be like other sports such as basketball or tennis with its own fixed set of rules. Nonetheless the first thing I learned was darts is actually composed of a myriad of games or rules.
There is no one way to play darts. There are over a hundred games you can play on a dartboard. Now that we have that out of the way this will make more sense.
Now even though there are all these dart games there is stillsomething of a “standard”, more common games that are played at tournaments, oreven just more popular games in general.
Another fact is darts was invented in England and is way morepopular there than America. Therefore they set the tone for what is “normal” inthe world of darts. The world darts federation was even founded in England.
So even though there are all these dart games the one playedmost commonly is 501, one of the X01 games, which is an entire post on its own.However since the game of darts came to America some American flair was addedto it. That flair is Cricket.
To note we will be discussing the standard American Cricket.Leave it to America for always wanting to be different. While the rest of theworld plays football (soccer) they developed their own game of Americanfootball. Likewise in darts while the rest of the world plays 501 leave it toAmerica to standardize Cricket.
Cricket is also played in the UK but it is known as Tactics and the rules are slightly different. You can learn more about it here. Dart’s historian Patrick Chaplin goes into further detail. For starters the treble and doubles are counted as separate numbers. But if you are an American and you want to learn how to play darts, that would be the same as learning how to play Cricket.
Alongside 501, Cricket is played at tournaments and becauseof this it’s even become popular at the bars. If you decide to go to a localbar to play darts, more than likely crickets will be played because everyoneknows it.
That makes learning how to play darts cricket very important.For an American this may be the same as learning how to play darts itself. Nowlike some other dart games there are other variations of cricket. The rulesgiven below are from the most common version of Cricket.
I will also list the other variations so you are aware. Cricket like electronic darts or soft tip darts is uniquely more popular in the United States than other parts of the world. You will also notice that every electronic dartboard comes with the game of crickets and its variations. Cricket is the American game of darts.
>>>>>>Master Crickets<<<<<<
Number Of Players:
Two Players or Two Teams
Objective:
To win a game of cricket you must “close” all your numbers first and be the player with the highest score.
How To Play:
Like most games of darts you begin a game of cricket by throwing at the bullseye to decide who shoots first. Each player takes turn shooting at the center of the dartboard and the player who gets the closet gets the first turn.
Once the first player is selected the objective of the gameis to “close” every number from 20 to 15 and the bullseye. This includes 20,19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and B. To close a number you must score three points on thatnumber.
You score points by hitting a section of the number with yourdart. For example if you shoot three darts and only hit the 19 section once,you earn 1 point on 19. Also in American Crickets hitting the treble is worththree points and hitting the double is worth two points.
For example if you shoot three darts and land one on thedouble 18 you will earn two points and only need one more to close the 18. Ifyou shoot three darts and one hits the treble 20 you will have closed the 20.
After closing a number you move on to the next phase of the game, earning points. You don’t have to close every number before you can start earning points. They also don’t need to be closed in any special order. You can close the bullseye before the 20 or the 16 then the 19, whichever order you want.
So you start earning points on a number once you close it.For example after you close the 20 every dart you hit on the 20 pie will nowearn you 20 points, which will be added to your overall score.
In American cricket if you hit the double section afterclosing a number you will earn twice the points. For example if you hit thedouble 19, you will earn 38 points. Also if you hit the treble section afterclosing a number you will earn three times the points. For example if you hitthe treble 15 after it’s closed you will earn 45 points.
For the bullseye the inner bull is worth two points and theouter bull is worth one. After closing the bull the inner bull is worth 50points and the outer bull is worth 25 points. You can also start earning pointson a number on the same turn you close it, you don’t have to wait till nextturn before you start accumulating points.
For example if you shoot three darts; the first dart hits the single 16, the second hits the treble 16 and the third hits the single 16, you will earn 32 points because you closed the 16 with your second dart. The only time you cannot earn points on a number is if that number has also been closed by your opponent.
So after you are done hitting the 16 if your opponent were toclose the 16 on his next turn you will no longer be able to earn points byhitting the 16. In order to win the game you must be the first to close all ofyour numbers and earn more points than your opponent.
However you will not be allowed to close you last number if you have fewer points than your opponent. You will be forced to accumulate more points before you can end the game. If your opponent manages to close all the numbers in the main time they will be declared the winner.
>>>>>>Master Crickets<<<<<<
Tips and Strategies
For standard cricket the big strategy is to aim for the highernumbers first. It goes without saying that if you are able to close and earnpoints on the higher numbers before your opponent closes them you will have anadvantage.
Also if you are aware of your opponents weak points you canaim for the number you know they will have a harder time closing. That way youearn more points while they try to close you off.
The idea is to try to find a balance between closing and earning points. You don’t want to drop points but you also don’t want your opponent to overtake you either.
>>>>>>Master Crickets<<<<<<
Cricket Variations
You cant learn how to play darts cricket without learning howto play darts cricket variations. Learning variations is a good practicebecause it can increase or decrease the difficulty of the game for differentplayer skill levels.
Standard cricket may be too difficult if you are a beginnerand it may be good to start with some easier variations. Also after a whilestandard cricket may become dull and you may want to make it more challenging,there are more difficult variations as well. Below are a list of some commonvariations of the darts game of cricket.
Quick Cricket
Quick Cricket is a simpler/easier variation of cricket
The game is played like standard cricket. You can begin withthe same shot at bullseye to determine who goes first. You will still earn thesame amount of points by hitting the single, double and treble areas of anumber.
The only difference is with quick cricket you don’t earn points after closing a number. The winner is decided by who manages to close all their numbers first. That means once you close a number you can move on to the next number. You don’t have to worry about accumulating points before your opponent catches up. Whoever manages to close the numbers 20 to 15 plus the bullseye is declared the winner.
>>>>>>Master Crickets<<<<<<
How To Hit The Bullseye In Darts Game Pigeon Forge
Cut Throat Cricket
Cut throat cricket could also be referred to as reversecricket because in this variation of the game the objective is reversed.Instead of closing all your numbers and having the HIGHEST score to win youmust have the LOWEST score in order to be declared the winner.
How To Hit The Bullseye In Darts Game Pigeon Run
You still have to close the numbers 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15and the bullseye to win. Also all other factors remain the same as standardcricket. The double and treble are worth twice and three times the number respectively.
You also won’t be also to close your last number until yourscore is lower than you opponent. The kicker in cut throat cricket is when youscore points on a number instead of adding to your score, it gets added to thescore of your opponent!
Double Only Cricket
This is a variation of cricket that may be more suitable formore advanced players. The usual rules of standard cricket apply. Yourobjective will still be to close the numbers 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and thebullseye while also accumulating more points than your opponent.
The difference with double only cricket is you can only startearning points on a number by hitting the double. This means for example if youwere to shoot three darts and one hits the single 17, one hits the single 19,and one hits the double 15. The only dart that would count for that turn is theone that hit the double 15. To be noted the double is still worth two points,it has not been downgraded in any way.
UK Cricket: Tactics
As stated earlier tactics is the UK variation of Crickets. Whilelearning how to play darts cricket it may be a good idea to learn how to playdarts tactics as well. Seeing as the English are the inventors of the game andthis is their version. You may even be able to impress some of your buddieswith this knowledge.
Tactics is identical to crickets accept in addition to the20, 19, 18, 17, 16, and 15 players must also hit three trebles, three doubles,and three bullseyes. To win a game of tactics payers must hit the previouslymentioned numbers plus have equal or higher points than their opponent. Withinthe game of tactics there are further variations. There are “slop” and “strict”rules.
Slop Rules Tactics
Every double and treble hit during gameplay is countedtowards the required three to win the game.
Strict Rules Tactics
Players can only earn scores on the double and treble afterclosing that number. For example if you shoot three darts and hit the treble 20with two darts, it will be closed with the first dart.
However you can choose how to implement the score of thesecond dart. You can either count it towards your overall score as 60 points oryou could count it as three treble hits.
In addition to the variations listed here, there are a multitude of dart games that have been developed from cricket. You can view more on the cricket Wikipedia page.
Scoring Made Easy
You can’t learn how to play darts cricket without learning how to score darts cricket. When it comes to scoring there’s no strict guideline or rules you have to follow. This is just a suggestion to make your scoring easier to manage.
For cricket scoring is pretty easy. You list the two playersor two team names at the top of the page separated by a middle column. In thatmiddle column you will list the numbers 20, 19, 18,17,16,15, down to bullseye.
If you’re playing tactics or another variation of darts thatmandates you hit separate trebles and doubles you will include those as well.During gameplay you will mark each point scored on a number by butting a slashunder that player name aligned with the number they scored the point on.
Again you can make the score mark whatever you like but weuse a slash for 1 point, another slash for 2 points, and three slashes forthree points. After a number has been closed all addition points on that numberwill be represented by an actual score until your opponent closes that number.Once all numbers are closed the scores will be tallied and the player with thehighest score will be declared the winner.
Well now you know how to play darts cricket. Now grab a board, grab some buddies and go play!
And if you want even more dart games, check out this post on how to play dart games 301.
We all have dreams of becoming world champions at darts. Oh, that’s just me? Anyway, if you’ve ever drunkenly stumbled through a game of bar darts and wished you had actual hand-eye coordination you’ll be happy to hear there’s now a dart board that basically plays the game for you, and lets you nail a bullseye nearly 100% of the time, as long as you can throw in its general direction. The bad news — you knew that was coming, right? — is that the board took over three years to build and required some seriously high-tech engineering to to so.
YouTuber Mark Rober just published a fantastic video showcasing the creation, which he modestly suggests required just “some engineering.” As you’ll see in the nearly seven minute clip, the device itself is actually ridiculously complex, despite its simple job.
The automatic dart board actively tracks the thrown dart, calculating its trajectory and then slides itself into place using a system of motors and sliders. When the dart is thrown, presuming the dart is at least in the right neighborhood of the board, it adjusts itself and places itself so that the bullseye is right in the center of the dart’s path.
What’s even cooler is that the board can recognize the difference between darts and is programmed to act differently based on what dart is thrown. One kind of dart will always hit the bullseye, while the other will literally never hit the board, as the board will automatically move itself out of the way for the ultimate troll job.