3-Dart Average

A player’s 3-dart-average refers to their average score in a single 3-dart visit in a game of 501 (or 301, 701, etc…). It is the most commonly refernced data point in the sport, but many beginners are confused about how it is calculated.

To calculate a player’s average you only need to know 2 numbers:

1. The sum of all the scores of their turns (Scored Points)
2. The total number of darts they threw (Thrown Darts) (See Note 1 regarding the defintion of a thrown dart)

Once you have those numbers you apply this simple formula to determine their 3-dart average:
(Scored Points / Thrown Darts) * 3

This same calculation is used whether you are calculating a player’s average for a single leg, a match, a tournament, or an entire season.

Let’s use the following leg scores as an example.

Leg 1

In Leg 1, Player 1 scored a total of 501 points. We can also see that they used 3 darts in each of their first 6 turns, but only used 2 darts in their final turn, using a total of 20 darts in the leg. So our formula for calculating their 3-dart-average would be:

(501 / 20) * 3
= 75.15

In Leg 1, Player 2 scored a total of 433 points across 6 full turns. Our formula for calculating their 3-dart-average would be:

(433 / 18) * 3
= 72.17

Leg 2

In Leg 2, Player 1 again scored a total of 501 points. We can also see that they used 3 darts in each of their first 5 turns, but only used 1 in their final turn, using a total of 16 darts in the leg. So our formula for calculating their 3-dart-average would be:

(501 / 16) * 3
= 93.94

In Leg 2, Player 2 scored a total of 419 points across 5 full turns. Our formula for calculating their 3-dart-average would be:

(419 / 18) * 3
= 72.17

Match Averages

In calculating the overall average for the match we continue to use the same 2 numbers to determine each player’s match average.

Player 1 scored a total of 1002 points using a total of 36 darts, so their 3-dart-average calculation is:

(1002 / 36) * 3
= 83.50

Player 2 scored a total of 852 points using a total of 36 darts, so their 3-dart-average calculation is:

(852 / 36) * 3
= 71.00

Note 1: The number of thrown darts can sometimes include darts that a player did not actually throw.

Using the example Leg 2 from above, let’s imagine a different scenario for Player 1’s sixth turn with 40 points remaining. At the start of that turn they had thrown 15 darts in their first 5 turns. Imagine their first dart at Double 20 lands low, falling inside the Single 20 segment. They have now thrown 16 darts. Their 17th dart is thrown at the Double 10, but they miss low into the Double 15. This dart busts their score, and their turn is over. However, because they failed to successfully checkout during their turn, it counts as a full 3-dart visit, so their dart count is now 18, despite having only actually thrown 17 darts. To put it simply, any turn in which a player does not successfully close out their game of 501 is considered to have been a 3-dart turn, regardless of how many darts were actually thrown. In a similar scenario, if Player 1 has 40 remaining and throws their first dart very low and into the Triple 20 segment, they would also have bust their score and will still be considered to have thrown 3 darts in that turn.