How to play
A dartboard hangs in an open wooden cabinet; the cabinet doors are chalkboards that keep each player’s score. Amber and Mint take turns, three darts each, counting down from 301 (or 501 on the menu). The first to reach exactly zero wins the leg; the match is one leg by default, or first to two or three.
You never aim with a mouse or a stick. A bright line sweeps left and right across the board: press your button to lock it. A second line then sweeps down the board: press again and the dart flies to the crossing point. Pressing early or late moves the dart one way or the other, so the skill is in reading the sweep.
- Amber presses Space (or any of W A S D).
- Mint presses Enter (or any arrow key).
- Gamepads work too: any face button. The first pad is Amber, the second Mint.
- On a phone, each player owns one half of the screen: tap once to lock the line, tap again to throw.
- Playing alone? Choose vs Bot and pick Easy, Normal or Hard.
- P or Esc pauses. The game also pauses by itself when you switch tabs.
Only the player whose turn it is can press. Each dart has a ten-second limit: if you have not pressed by then, the vertical line locks where it is and a second later the dart is thrown at wherever the second line happens to be.
Scoring
The board uses real tournament proportions. The thin outer ring doubles a number, the thin inner ring trebles it, the outer bull scores 25 and the inner bull 50. Treble 20 is the best single dart at 60. The dart lands within about 1.5 mm of the locked crossing, so a precise press on the treble ring is rewarded and a careless one can clip the wire into the single.
Your score drops by each dart. The leg ends the moment a dart takes you to exactly zero. If a dart would take you below zero, that is a bust: your score goes back to what it was at the start of the turn and your turn is over.
Finish rules
The menu offers two finishes:
- Any: reach zero with any dart. A single 20 from 20 wins.
- Double out: the final dart must be a double, or the inner bull. Leaving yourself on 1 is a bust, and so is reaching zero with a single or a treble.
Double out is the traditional rule and makes the end of a leg far more tense. Players who play it set up an even number they like, usually 32 (double 16) or 40 (double 20), before going for the finish.
Strategy
- Treble 20 first. Above 60, every dart at T20 is the fastest way down; a glancing single 20 is still fine. Hitting the 1 or the 5 next to it is the price of the gamble.
- Lock the vertical line carefully. The first press decides which number you hit. Lock a hair early rather than late: the dart lands a little further along the sweep than the line shows.
- Count before the last turn. With any finish, aim for the single that leaves a number you can hit in one dart. With double out, leave 32 or 40 and do not throw at the double until the score is even and 40 or less.
- Bust is better than a bad leave? No. A bust ends your turn immediately and hands the rival three darts. When one dart would take you below zero, throw at a small single instead.
- Against the Hard bot, it hits treble 20 about six darts in ten and finishes cleanly, so matches are short. Choose 501 with double out for a longer, more forgiving game, or play first to three legs.
If you enjoy Dart Duel, try Dash Duo or Flop Wrestle next.
