The best darts checkouts to learn first

Start with the doubles, not the routes

Every standard X01 leg ends on a double, so the doubles are where most legs are won or lost. Before memorising three-dart routes, get comfortable with the doubles you'll face most often.

The textbook order is D20 (40), D16 (32), D8 (16) and D4 (8) — the “halving” doubles. Miss the double and you're left with another even number you can still finish, so a single bad dart rarely costs you the leg.

The high-value finishes worth knowing

A handful of finishes come up again and again because they follow a maximum visit or a strong 100+ score. Burn these in first:

• 170 — T20 T20 Bull, the highest possible checkout.
• 167, 164, 161 — the big bull finishes after two trebles.
• 160 — T20 T20 D20, a clean three-treble-style finish.
• 100, 81, 80, 60, 57, 56, 50, 40, 36, 32 — the everyday closers you'll use in nearly every game.

See them all together in the full checkout chart, or look up any score in the checkout calculator.

Practise the leave, not just the finish

Good players think one dart ahead. When a clean finish isn't on, they score to leave a number they've memorised — 32 or 40 — rather than guessing on the double. Knowing your favourite finishes turns scoring into a setup for them.