Why is it called 420?

Because the twenty doubles add up to 420: 2 + 4 + 6 and so on up to 40. Hit every double once and you land on exactly zero.

What is a good score in 420?

Lower is better. Hitting half the doubles leaves you somewhere around 210. Clearing the board, finishing on zero or below, is the standard to aim for, and a perfect session with the bull ends on minus 50.

Do you keep throwing after you hit the double?

Not in the standard version. The first hit takes the double off and you move straight on to the next one, so a double is worth the same whether you hit it once or three times. Some players count every hit instead, which gives lower scores from the same darts, so the scorer keeps the two apart.

How is 420 different from Bob's 27?

Both go round the doubles from 1 to 20 and then the bull. Bob's 27 counts up, punishes a blank round and ends if you go below zero. 420 counts down, a miss costs nothing but the chance, and it never ends early, so you always reach the doubles that finish legs.

420 darts

How do you play 420 darts?

Start on 420, the total of every double from 1 to 20. Throw up to three darts at double 1; hit it and 2 comes off your score and you move on to double 2. Work all the way to double 20, then take three darts at the bull for a last 50. Lowest score wins, and hitting every double once lands you on exactly zero.

Play it now

PracticeKept out of your match figures, and kept in your Practice area.

420

Left to take off. Lower wins in 420

Double 1 of 21

takes off 2

Three darts at D1. A hit takes off 2, leaving 418, and moves you on.

Only the double counts. No visit totals in this drill

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Getting the board ready

A countdown round every double on the board. The lowest score wins, and it never ends early. Tap each dart as it lands: a hit ends the visit on the spot, so you are never asked for a dart you would not have thrown, and a round you mis-tapped can be corrected from the list below the board.

How it is scored

Only the double of the number you are on counts. A single or a treble of it is a miss, as is the wrong double. On the bull only the bullseye counts, and the outer bull takes nothing off.

A hit takes off the double's value: 2 for double 1, 40 for double 20. The top half of the board is worth nearly three times the bottom half, which is why a session that goes badly early can still end well.

Doubles hit	Final score
None	420
Double 1 to 10 only	310
Double 11 to 20 only	110
All twenty	0
All twenty and the bull	−50

With one hit per double and the last-chance bull. A clean board is not the end: the bull still gets thrown, which is how a perfect session finishes below zero.

Every hit, instead of one per double: Counting every hit means three darts at each double every time, and two hits on double 10 take off 40. The same darts give a lower score that way, so the two are never compared with each other.
Last-chance bull: Turn it off and the drill finishes at double 20, where the best possible score is zero.

What the numbers say

Because a visit stops at the hit, 420 knows which dart found each double. At the end the scorer shows how often the first dart did it. That is the one closest to a real checkout, where the first dart at the double is often the only one you get. Someone who hits double 16 with the third dart every time has a different problem from someone who hits it first time or not at all.

Questions

Why is it called 420?: Because the twenty doubles add up to 420: 2 + 4 + 6 and so on up to 40. Hit every double once and you land on exactly zero.
What is a good score in 420?: Lower is better. Hitting half the doubles leaves you somewhere around 210. Clearing the board, finishing on zero or below, is the standard to aim for, and a perfect session with the bull ends on minus 50.
Do you keep throwing after you hit the double?: Not in the standard version. The first hit takes the double off and you move straight on to the next one, so a double is worth the same whether you hit it once or three times. Some players count every hit instead, which gives lower scores from the same darts, so the scorer keeps the two apart.
How is 420 different from Bob's 27?: Both go round the doubles from 1 to 20 and then the bull. Bob's 27 counts up, punishes a blank round and ends if you go below zero. 420 counts down, a miss costs nothing but the chance, and it never ends early, so you always reach the doubles that finish legs.