Darts for Beginners: Equipment, Setup & First Games | Oche

Getting into darts is cheap, quick and genuinely rewarding — you can have a board on the wall and be playing within an hour. This guide covers everything a complete beginner needs: the equipment, the correct setup, the basic rules, and the first games to play so you’re not stuck staring at the board wondering what to do.

The equipment you actually need

Ignore the wall of accessories at the shop. To start, you need three things:

• A bristle dartboard. Spend a little here — a good sisal board self-heals and lasts for years. Cheap coiled-paper boards wear out fast.
• A set of darts. Start somewhere around 22–24 g with a straight or slim barrel. You’ll refine your preference later; almost any reasonable set is fine to learn with.
• A mount and a backboard. Fix the board securely and protect the wall around it (an old cabinet door, cork, or a purpose-made surround). Missed darts happen.

Good lighting and a floor mat are nice upgrades once you’re playing regularly, but they’re not essential on day one.

Setting up the board correctly

This is the part beginners most often get wrong — and a board hung at the wrong height ruins everything you practise. There are just two official measurements:

• Bullseye height: 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) from the floor to the centre of the bull.
• Throwing distance (oche): 2.37 m (7 ft 9¼ in) horizontally from the board face for steel-tip darts.

Get these right and every dart you throw at home transfers to any match board. Our height and distance guide explains the measurements (including the handy diagonal cross-check), and the dartboard setup article walks through hanging it step by step.

The basic rules

The standard game is 501. Both players start on 501, throw three darts a turn, and subtract the total from their score. The first to reach exactly zero, finishing on a double, wins. That double-out finish is the one rule that trips up every newcomer — it’s worth reading the full 501 rules and our how to play darts primer before your first proper game.

Don’t worry about doing the subtraction in your head while you learn. The Oche X01 scorer counts down automatically and even tells you how to finish, so you can put all your attention on the throw.

Your throw

A repeatable throw matters more than a powerful one. Find a comfortable stance (front foot to the line, weight balanced), a relaxed grip, and a smooth release that follows through toward the target. The goal is to do the same thing every time. Our how to throw a dart guide breaks down each element with practical fixes.

First games to play

Don’t start with 501 — start by getting comfortable hitting the board:

1. Around the Clock. Hit 1, then 2, then 3, up to 20. No scoring, no doubles, pure accuracy. It’s the ideal first game.
2. 501. Once you can land darts where you aim, move to the real format and start learning checkouts.
3. Cricket or Killer. Add these once friends are involved — they’re more tactical and a lot of fun in a group.

Just start throwing

The fastest way to improve as a beginner is simply to play, with a board that’s set up correctly and a way to track what you’re doing. Set the height and distance once, learn the 501 rules, and let the X01 scorer handle the maths and start building your stats from your very first leg. From there, our improve section takes you the rest of the way.