How to Play Cricket, The Ultimate Darts Game
Every bar-going adult should know how to play Cricket. Though most people who step up to the duct-taped line and take aim at the dartboard typically opt for 301, a simple game in which each player takes turns until someone scores a cumulative 301 points, Cricket is far superior. Here’s how to play.
What you’ll need:
- At least three darts (or more if you don’t wish to share)
- A dartboard
- Paper and pen to keep score (or a chalkboard and chalk, or pull up this cricket scoreboard on your phone)
Object of the game:
The overall object of Cricket is to have more points than the other team once numbers 15 through 20 and the bullseye have been “closed out.”
Rules of the game:
Players take turns throwing three darts at the board, trying to hit 15 through 20 and the bullseye. If you hit any other number, nothing happens. Cricket requires each person to “close out” numbers, meaning players have to score each number (15 through 20) and the bullseye three times before the game can end. If you hit the outer ring of a number, that counts for two, and if you hit the inner ring, that counts as three (unless you’re aiming for the bullseye, in which the outer ring counts for one and the inner circle counts for two). So, if you hit the inner ring of 15, for example, that closes it out for your team. If a player closes out a number before the other does, that player can start racking up points every time they hit that number until the other player closes it out. Once both teams have closed out a number, it is no longer in play and neither team can score points on it. The team that closes out the board with greater or equal points wins.
Scoring:
Set up the scoreboard with a chart divided into three sections, two for each team and one in the middle for numbers 15 through 20 and the bullseye:
When a team scores a number, mark it with a "/":
When a team scores a number three times, that number is closed (shown by a mark of an "X" with a circle around it). If the other team has yet to close that number, the first team can start scoring points on it by hitting it again. The number of points you receive correlates with whatever number you are hitting. If you hit a 17, you get 17 points, a 20, 20 points, and so on. When it comes to scoring on the bullseye, the outer ring counts for 25 points, the inner counts for 50. Below shows an example of a team that has closed out 15 and hit it a fourth time before the other team had a chance to close it out:
The game ends when the team with all the closed out numbers has more points than their opponent. A completed game might look something like this:
