Darts Checkout Chart: Every Finish From 170

A darts checkout chart shows the recommended dart combinations for finishing a leg of 501 from a given score, always ending on a double or the bullseye. The highest possible three-dart checkout is 170, thrown as treble 20, treble 20 and the bullseye, and everything below it works down through standard routes to the common closing doubles.

In the standard game run by bodies like the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and the World Darts Federation (WDF), you start on 501, subtract each turn, and must land your last dart in a double to win. That final requirement is why checkouts matter: you are not just hitting big numbers, you are steering your score toward a finish you can actually close out.

How checkouts work

Every leg of 501 ends the same way. You need to reach exactly zero, and the winning dart has to be a double, meaning the thin outer ring of a number, or the bullseye, which counts as a double 25 (50). Miss low, and if the dart drops you below two or leaves a remainder you cannot halve into a double, it is a “bust” and your score resets to where the turn began.

Because of that, good players think in reverse. From a scoring number like 140 or 100, they pick a route that both lowers the score and leaves a comfortable double, most often double 16 or double 20, on the last dart.

Reading the notation

Checkout charts use a compact shorthand:

• T20 = treble 20 (worth 60)
• D20 = double 20 (worth 40)
• S20 = single 20 (worth 20)
• Bull = bullseye (50, scored as a double)

So a 100 finish written as “T20 D20” means treble 20 for 60, then double 20 for 40.

Standard checkouts from 170 down

The table below lists reliable, commonly used routes. Many scores have more than one valid path; these are standard finishes that keep a makeable double last.

Score	Standard route
170	T20 T20 Bull
167	T20 T19 Bull
164	T20 T18 Bull
161	T20 T17 Bull
160	T20 T20 D20
158	T20 T20 D19
157	T20 T19 D20
156	T20 T20 D18
154	T20 T18 D20
152	T20 T20 D16
150	T20 T18 D18
148	T20 T20 D14
145	T20 T15 D20
144	T20 T20 D12
141	T20 T19 D12
140	T20 T20 D10
138	T20 T18 D12
136	T20 T20 D8
132	T20 T20 D6
130	T20 T20 D5
121	T17 T20 D5
120	T20 S20 D20
100	T20 D20
40	D20
32	D16

Every route above has been chosen to leave a standard finishing double, and each adds up exactly to its score. For the in-between numbers not listed, the principle is the same: score with a treble, then set up a two-dart or one-dart double.

The bogey numbers

A few scores simply cannot be finished in three darts, no matter how you throw. These are the bogey numbers: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159. If you are left on one of them, the smart play is to score deliberately, for example leaving 170 or a clean number, so your next visit has a real checkout. Recognising bogey numbers is half the value of learning a chart, because it stops you aiming at an impossible out.

Why the chart is worth learning

Memorising a checkout chart is what separates casual throwers from consistent match players. It lets you play “setup” darts under pressure rather than freezing on a big number, and it trains you to always keep a favourite double, usually double 16 or double 20, waiting on the final dart.

If you are still building the basics, our guides to how to play darts and the correct dart board height and distance cover the setup you need before finishes become the priority. For a completely different scoring game on the same board, see our walkthrough of how to play cricket darts, and for inspiration, our roundup of the greatest darts players shows what elite checkout hitting looks like.

The short version: a checkout chart maps the dart routes to finish 501 on a double, 170 is the highest three-dart out (T20 T20 Bull), a handful of numbers from 159 to 169 are unfinishable bogey numbers, and the goal on every visit is to leave yourself a comfortable double last.