Darts Checkout Chart: Every Finish From 170 Down, Explained

Every darts player hits the same wall: you're on 96, your mate's on a finish, and your brain is suddenly doing GCSE arithmetic under pressure. A checkout chart fixes that. This is the complete guide to standard checkouts in 501 — what the routes are, why they're shaped the way they are, and how to actually learn them.

What is a checkout in darts?

In a standard game of 501 (or 301/701) with double out rules, you must finish the leg by hitting a double that brings your score exactly to zero. The bullseye counts as double 25. If you go below zero, land on exactly 1, or hit zero without a double, you've bust — your score resets to what it was before the visit and your turn ends.

A checkout is any score you can finish from in one visit — three darts or fewer. The highest possible checkout is 170: treble 20, treble 20, bullseye.

The big checkouts: 170 down to 100

These are the glamour finishes, and they all follow one logic: maximise with trebles, land on a double you like.

• 170 — T20, T20, Bull. The "big fish". There's no other route.
• 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
• 155 — T20, T19, D19
• 154 — T20, T18, D20
• 151 — T20, T17, D20
• 150 — T20, T18, D18
• 147 — T20, T17, D18
• 144 — T20, T20, D12
• 141 — T20, T19, D12
• 138 — T20, T18, D12
• 136 — T20, T20, D8
• 132 — Bull, Bull, D16
• 130 — T20, T20, D5 (or T20, 20, Bull)
• 129 — T19, T16, D12
• 126 — T19, T19, D6
• 124 — T20, T16, D8
• 121 — T20, T11, D14
• 120 — T20, 20, D20
• 110 — T20, Bull (two darts!)
• 107 — T19, Bull
• 104 — T18, Bull
• 101 — T17, Bull
• 100 — T20, D20

The bogey numbers: scores you cannot finish

Six scores under 170 have no three-dart checkout: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 — and 159 joins them as the classic seventh. If you're left on one of these, your only job is to set up a finish for the next visit. Good players never leave themselves a bogey number; they'd rather take one dart at a fat single to leave a clean 40 or 32.

Why 32 and 40 are the pro's favourite doubles

Watch any televised match and you'll see finishes engineered towards D16 (32) and D20 (40). The reason is simple insurance: if you miss D16 into single 16, you're on 16 — still a double (D8). Miss D8 into 8? Still a double (D4). The 32 route gives you a "halving ladder" all the way down: 32 → 16 → 8 → 4 → 2. Odd leaves, by contrast, force you to waste a dart on a single before you can attack a double again.

That's why the standard chart sends 96 to T20, D18 rather than anything fancier, and why 80 is T20, D10 or T16, D16 depending on which double you trust.

How to actually learn the chart

• Learn the ladders, not the list. Memorise the families that funnel into D16 and D20 first: 32, 40, 36, 24, and the routes that produce them (96, 80, 76, 60...).
• Two-dart thinking. From 61–98, your first dart's real job is to leave a double. Ask "what do I want left?" before "what do I aim at?".
• Drill your out-double. Bob's 27 is the classic doubles drill — start on 27 points, take three darts at D1, then D2, up to the bull, halving your score every time you miss a double outright. Brutal and brilliant.
• Let the scorer do the maths. A good darts scoring app shows the suggested route the moment you're on a finish, so you learn the chart by seeing it every leg — not by cramming a poster.

Checkout percentage: the stat that actually matters

Your three-dart average gets the attention, but matches are won on checkout percentage — doubles hit divided by darts thrown at doubles. Club players sit around 20–30%; PDC pros in a good season hit 40%+. If you only track one stat this season, track that one. Chalkie's stats page does it automatically, and its Checkout Coach tells you which specific double is leaking legs.

Practise your finishing more than your scoring. Anyone can hit trebles eventually — legs are won and lost at the double.

Quick reference: the awkward middle

• 99 — T19, 10, D16
• 98 — T20, D19
• 97 — T19, D20
• 96 — T20, D18
• 95 — T19, D19
• 94 — T18, D20
• 93 — T19, D18
• 92 — T20, D16
• 91 — T17, D20
• 90 — T20, D15 (or T18, D18)
• 89 — T19, D16
• 88 — T20, D14
• 87 — T17, D18
• 86 — T18, D16
• 85 — T15, D20
• 84 — T20, D12
• 83 — T17, D16
• 82 — T14, D20 (or Bull, D16)
• 81 — T19, D12
• 80 — T20, D10 (or T16, D16)

Print it, screenshot it — or just let the app whisper it to you at the oche.