Darts Checkout Chart: Every Double-Out Finish from 170 Down

Checkout reference · Double out · Updated 2026-08-04

Every score from 2 to 170 that can be finished in darts has a standard route, and this page lists all of them. The tables below give the book checkout - the combination most professionals throw first - for every finishable score in a double-out game like 501, from the famous 170 down to double 1. Seven scores in that range cannot be taken out in three darts at all, and they get their own section too.

Keep it open at the oche or work through it range by range in practice. Once the routes stick, you stop doing arithmetic mid-leg and start throwing at the number your hand already knows.

What a checkout is and how to read this chart

A checkout is the combination of darts that takes your remaining score exactly to zero, with the last dart landing on a double. Standard X01 games such as 501 are played straight in, double out, so every leg ends either on the thin outer ring of the board or on the inner bull. The 50 bull counts as double 25, which makes it a perfectly legal finishing dart - and, as you will see, it is the only reason the biggest checkouts exist at all.

The tables use standard shorthand: S is a single, T is a treble, D is a double, 25 is the outer bull ring worth 25 points, and Bull is the inner bull worth 50. Each row shows a score and its book route. A dash means the dart is not needed - plenty of scores come out in two darts, and a few in one.

One rule shapes everything on this page. A visit busts if it takes your score below zero, to exactly 1, or to zero without finishing on a double: the whole visit is void, your score returns to its value at the start of the visit, and your turn ends. Book routes are built around that risk. They favour combinations where the most common miss - drifting off a treble into its single - still leaves an even number and a live finish, so one loose dart costs you a dart rather than the whole visit.

Why 170 is the ceiling

The highest single dart on the board is treble 20, worth 60, and the maximum three-dart visit is 180. But you cannot finish on a treble, and the biggest double available is the 50 bull. The largest finishable score is therefore 60 + 60 + 50: treble 20, treble 20, bull, for exactly 170. It is the most celebrated checkout in the game precisely because there is nothing above it - if you are left on 171 or more, no three darts in the world can take you out that visit.

The glory finishes: 170-141

Everything in this range needs two trebles before the double, which is why a finish here draws a roar in any pub. The 170, 167, 164 and 161 all end on the bull, and the rest funnel into the 20, 19, 18, 16, 14 and 12 beds. You will notice gaps in the score column - those are the seven bogey numbers above, which have no route at all.

Three-dart finishes: 140-99

This is the workhorse zone, where most legs are actually won. Nearly every route opens on treble 20, and the handful that start on treble 19 or treble 18 do so because they leave a friendlier second and third dart. Three rows deserve a note: 110 is a genuine two-darter, treble 20 then bull; 125 opens on the outer bull ring for 25 before treble 20 and double 20; and on 121 the bull is the finishing double itself, after treble 20 and single 11.

Two darts: 98-61

From 98 down, every score comes out in two darts: one treble, one double, with two bull-based exceptions. On 82 the book takes bull (double 25) then double 16, and on 65 it takes the outer 25 then double 20. The arithmetic pattern here is worth internalising: doubles are always even, so odd scores in this range must open on an odd treble such as T19, T17, T15 or T13, while even scores get the luxury of T20, T18 and T16. If you are on an odd number and reach for treble 20, the maths has already gone wrong.

Setting up your double: 60-41

Below 61 you no longer need a treble. A single sets up the double, and the book picks singles that drop you onto double 20 or double 16, the two most practised doubles in the game. The exception is 50 itself, where the bull is a clean one-dart finish. Notice the pattern: 60 down to 51 all leave tops, and 49 down to 41 nearly all leave 32, with 46 as the odd one out because the book prefers single 6 to leave double 20. Two well-grooved doubles cover this entire band.

One dart in hand: 40 and below

Every even number from 40 down is a one-dart finish: halve the score and throw that double. 40 is double 20, 36 is double 18, 32 is double 16, and so on all the way to 2 as double 1. There is nothing to memorise - if your score is even and 40 or less, you are on a finish right now.

Odd numbers are the trap. Every double is even, so no odd score can ever be finished with one dart. Left on 39 or 17, your first job is a single that makes the number even - the switch-to-a-double habit that separates tidy finishers from players who strand themselves. It is also why the bust rule treats exactly 1 as dead: no double is worth 1, so a score of 1 can never be finished. The table below gives the standard setup single for every odd score under 41; each one leaves double 16, double 8, double 4, double 2 or double 1.

Why players love double 16: the halving ladder

Scan back through the tables and count how often the last column reads D16. That is no accident. Miss double 16 on the fat side and you hit single 16, leaving 16 - still a clean double, D8. Miss that into single 8 and you are on D4, then D2, then D1. The ladder runs 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, and every rung is even, so one loose dart never forces a wasted setup shot.

Double 20 tells a different story. From 40, a miss into single 20 leaves D10, and a miss into single 10 leaves D5 - but the next slip strands you on 5, an odd number that needs another single before you can throw at a double. The tops ladder of 40, 20, 10, 5 breaks three rungs down. Plenty of professionals still swear by double 20 because they simply hit it more often than anything else, and that is the real lesson: the ladder matters, but the double you have practised most matters more.

Preferred-double thinking

The chart gives the book route, but the book is a starting point, not law. Strong players pick one double as home and bend every leg toward it. If double 16 is home, you learn the setups that leave 32: single 9 from 41, single 13 from 45, treble 20 from 92. If tops is home, you learn the singles that leave 40. Working backwards like this turns a finish into a shot you have thrown a thousand times in practice rather than arithmetic performed under pressure.

How do you find your double? Track it honestly. Checkout percentage - doubles hit divided by darts thrown at a double - tells you which bed you actually convert, and it is often not the one you would guess. A few weeks of real numbers will show whether your money double is truly tops or secretly double 8, and once you know, the whole chart reads differently: every route becomes a road toward your number.

Never do checkout maths mid-leg again. Darts Scorer & Dart Scoreboard shows a checkout hint automatically on every finishable score, so the right route is on screen the moment you step up to throw. It scores X01 from any start, Cricket, Around the Clock and practice routines, tracks averages and checkout percentage as you play, works fully offline, and its true-black display mode keeps the screen awake through a whole match on iPhone and iPad. Launching soon from Panda Taps. Learn more about Darts Scorer & Dart Scoreboard.

Frequently asked questions

What is the highest checkout in darts?

The highest possible finish is 170, taken as treble 20, treble 20, bull. The 50 bull counts as double 25, so it is a legal finishing double.

Which scores have no three-dart finish?

Seven scores have no three-dart double-out finish: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159. On any of these you should score down onto a finishable number, for example treble 20 from 169 to leave 109, rather than attempt a checkout that does not exist.

Why do darts players set up double 16?

Missing double 16 into the single leaves 16, which is still a double (double 8), and the ladder keeps halving through 8, 4 and 2 without ever hitting an odd number. Double 20 breaks down at 5, which needs an extra setup dart to fix.

What happens if I score more than I have left?

The visit is a bust. If a visit takes your score below zero, to exactly 1, or to zero without finishing on a double, the whole visit is void, your score returns to what it was at the start of the visit, and your turn ends.

Keep reading

• How to Play 501 Darts: Rules, Scoring and How Legs Are Won
• What Is a 9 Dart Finish? The Perfect Leg Explained
• Darts Scoring Rules for Beginners: The Board, Turns and Points