Darts Jargon Explained: Nine Dart, Bullet, Big Fish, Champagne Finish and more! | News about darts

Think you can tell your 180 by the target? Your big fish from Shanghai? The difference between bogey and doom? Ahead of the World Darts Championship, here’s all the darts lingo explained in one handy guide!

Arrow with nine arrows

Let’s start with a fun one, shall we? Everyone loves to see a nine-dart hit on stage, but what exactly is it? Well, that’s when a player checks out a 501 in the fewest number of darts possible: nine.

There are actually 3944 different combinations, yes 3944 combinations, for the first eight arrows of the nine arrows, but the most common paths are as follows…

Most players will opt for 180s (T20, T20, T20) and then check 141 with one of the following:

• High 20, High 19, Double 12
• High 20, High 15, Double 18
• High 17, High 18, Double 18

There have been a lot of famous nines players over the years, but the best ever has to go to Michael Smith of the World Darts Final, if not just for Sky Sports Darts Wayne Mardle’s iconic commentary…

Bullseye

Bullseye is not only a famous game from the 1980s, it is the center of the dart board.

Yes, that little red inner circle is a bullet and is worth 50 and takes real skill to hit.

With that in mind, watch Gary Anderson showcase his talent on it…

Outdoor bull

That small inner red circle is surrounded by a green circle called the outer bull. This is worth 25, half a point from the bullseye.

Big fish

Roll it up! Big Fish is the biggest pot possible in darts. To win hook, line and sinker, players need to hit two T20s and then bullseye for a 170 checkout. Sounds simple, right?!

Shanghai

Yes, it’s a city in China, but it’s also a cash register when you hit single, double and triple on the same number with your three darts. It is most commonly seen when 120 is required to be paid, with players hitting 20, T20 and D20 to win a share.

Breakfast with champagne

To understand what a champagne breakfast is, we must first understand what a traditional breakfast is. Breakfast is when a player hits 20, one and five.

Rumor has it that it was called breakfast because it was the price of a bed and breakfast (two shillings and sixpence).

So how do you do it? Add champagne, of course! So this is when a player hits triple the value of each of these numbers: T20, T5, T1.

Game shooting

Quite simply, a game shot is the winning shot in a darts match. You will hear the referee shout this when the win is confirmed.

Lipstick

We talk a lot about treble 20 in darts, and lipstick is the nickname for hitting this segment of the dart board.

Checkout

Checkout is when you guess the exact number you have left to win the game. Now, in darts this can be a bit complicated as certain match formats require players to engage in a double or double play.

Foot

A leg is a single dart match that goes down from 501 until someone checks their score.

Set

In the longer format darts, a set is used. A set will consist of a certain number of legs, with the player who wins the most legs winning the set. So if the first is to three sets and each set is five legs, winning three legs to two would win the set and you would have to do it three times to win.

Bed

A bed is the term used to denote each individual segment for a number on a dartboard.

Break

A break is when the player who throws his dart second wins the leg against his opponent who threw first. Also called a roll break.

Wire

If you look closely at the dart board, you will see that a wire separates each segment. So when a player hits a string, it means they hit the metal wire that divides the board.

Switch

Substitution is a difficult talent that comes more naturally to some players than others. This is when the player changes the segment of the dart board that he is aiming at. This can be for a variety of reasons, such as they don’t score well in a segment, a previous arrow blocked what they were aiming for, or they have to move for a score they need. The most common change you will see is players moving from T20 to T19.

Grouping

When something is a group, it is close together and this directly translates to how close the group of arrows are on the dartboard. For example, when a player hits a 180 and all the darts land in a T20 bed, that would be called a good grouping. Accuracy is key!

Cannons

This one really does what it says on the tin. Players, when going for the top, aim for the highest segment on the board: D20. This top or top finish is used a lot during matches so you’ll hear it a lot on Ally Pally.

Yours-more

The term ton-plus is used in several different scenarios. It can refer to when a player scores more than 100 points in a single visit to oche. It can also refer to a checkout in excess of 100. For example, if Luke Littler scored three multiple checkout tons in a match, that means he finished his outing with three big scores over 100.

Robin Hood

While Robin Hood stole from the rich to feed the poor, in darts his name means something a little different. Robin Hood is when you throw a dart and it lands, not in the board, but in another dart you’ve already thrown. This is ROBBING the score player.

Madhouse

Logging out can then leave you feeling like you’re in a frenzy – that’s when a player leaves himself D1, or one and D1, to win a share. Some players may take a long time to complete it!

Bugbear

Although most people associate the word spook with golf or the classic children’s program ‘Dick and Dom’, it actually also has a darts meaning. A terrible number in darts is when you leave yourself a result that you cannot mathematically verify.

Bust

A bust is when a player leaves a score to check out, but hits the wrong part of the board, scores higher than the target, and has to wait the next time they appear on the oche to try to check again. You see many players fail when they leave very low scores, like hitting 20 when aiming for one!

Jump out

A fate that many darts players have experienced when they set out to play three T20s, bounce is when the dart hits the board so hard that it doesn’t stay in and falls to the floor.

Chair

Pronounced like hockey without the ‘H’, oche is the line from which players throw darts.

When will the World Darts Championship take place?

The tournament kicks off at Alexandra Palace on Sunday 15 December, with three first round matches and one second round match on the opening night.

Live darts will be played on each of the next eight days, including seven afternoon sessions, with the usual three-day break from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day before returning with round three and a double session on December 27.

The third and fourth rounds will be completed by 30 December before the night off on New Year’s Eve, with the quarter-finals taking place over two sessions on New Year’s Day before the semi-finals on 2 January and the final on Friday 3 January.

You can find the complete daily schedule for this year’s tournament here.

Who Will Win The Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live from 15 December to 3 January on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and more top sports with NOW.