65 out

If you have 65 left with two darts, you can go for T15 - D10 and a single 15 will still leave you a double bullseye with your last dart.

But what if you have 65 left with 3 darts to throw?

• Single bull + D20?  If you miss the bullseye, you'll have two darts to clean it up.  Chances are you will be under 60 and will have a two-dart out.
• T19 + D8?  A single 19 leaves you 46 which becomes 40 or 36 by throwing your second dart at the 6/10 wire.
• T15 + D10?  A single 15 leaves you 50 which can be 18 + 32, if you don't feel like going at the double bull with your second dart.

I took the third option Saturday night.  After I threw my second dart at the single 18, I heard my opponent (a very good player) laugh and say "smart dart".

Looking at this now, I think the second option might have been a better choice because the set-up dart if you miss the first triple is easier.

All of these are pretty similar, so it may just depend on how confident you are feeling with your single bull or your triples.

Cricket Solitaire

I've come up with a solitaire version of cricket that I like.  The basic idea is that you are throwing against an opponent that closes a number or hits a bullseye every round.  Here's how it works.

On your first turn, shoot all three darts at the 20's.  Mark your shot like cricket, including points: if you hit two, you get an X - if you hit five, close it and you get 40 points.

On your second turn, do the same thing at the 19's.  On your third turn, shoot at 18's, etc.

Once you get to bullseyes, your score determines how many turns you get to finish the game.  You get three turns plus one turn for every 25 points you have.  You have to use these turns to hit three bulls and close your numbers.

If you don't find this challenging, you can adjust the number of turns at the ending.  For example, give yourself two turns plus 1 for every 50 points.

I'm lucky to win this more than half the time...

102 out

I was sitting with 102 left last night.  I generally don't like to get too caught up in setting up out shots because it's easy to end up shooting for T13 and T11 and missing and ending up only hitting 11 points and not getting anywhere.  But... I didn't really see the point of shooting a 20 and ending up with 42 or 82.  Shooting 18 leaves 48 or 84... 48 is nice but 84?   So what about 16 - that leaves 54 or 86.  86 is T18 + D16.  Ok, lets try that...

So I shot at the T16 and hit a single 8.  That's 94 left.  I hit T18 + D20 and won.

OK, what just happened?

Basically, shooting the 8/16 wire from a 102 leaves a T18 + either D20 or D16.

I would generally shoot for the T18 first, but missing it and getting a single on the first shot leaves you in a weirder place - 84.

Hmmm.

Tic Tac Toe

Tic-Tac-Toe is my favorite practice game.  It challenges you to be able to shoot anywhere on the board - but the basic strategy is grade school simple and can provide a lot of drama.

To get started, draw a Tic-Tac-Toc grid on the score board.  Then, everyone takes turns splashing with three darts.  Players can choose where to place the numbers they hit (1-20 and bullseye) on the board (no duplicates).  Now shoot for the bull to see who goes first.  Put small X's and O's in the square to keep track of marks as you go.

The simplest variation is "three to capture" where the first person to get three marks on a number captures it.  Other simple variations are:

• only counting doubles,
• five to capture,
• if you hit a double or triple during the splash, make that the target

Double Out Variations

Instead of shooting straight at doubles, populate the board with the sum of your splash (two or three darts) and then capture a square by taking that number out (i.e. like in 501, your darts add up to the number with your last dart being a double.)  You can limit a player to one capture per turn - or you can allow players to continue if they still have darts after a double-out or a bust.  We play one-to-claim for these variations.

Ahead-by-five variations (a.k.a. Dic-Tac-Toc)

My favorite variation is to require someone to be ahead by 5 marks to claim a square.  To score this version, you erase any small marks the other player has before you mark yours.  For example, if X has three marks on a spot and O hits two - O erases two of X's marks.  There is something especially fun about getting to literally erase your opponents marks.  This version has the flavor of a cricket point battle, where players battle back and forth.  It also is a longer game and favors the better player - so you might consider handicapping it (see Other Ideas below).

More is Merrier

To play with more than two players, just add more shapes to the game.  If the game gets to the point where everyone is blocked from capturing a whole row or column, play out the rest of the board and the person with them most squares wins.

Handicapping

Just make the number of marks to capture different for different level players.  Or, when someone wins, increase the marks they need for the next match.  Play until someone gets up to 7 marks.  Remember, this is about practicing under pressure - and having fun - not just winning.

Winning on the first turn while playing "three to capture" tic-tac-toe.