What Is a 9 Darter? The Perfect 501 Leg Explained

A 9 darter, or nine-dart finish, means winning a leg of 501 with exactly nine darts of your own. It is called a perfect leg because nine is the fewest darts in which you can legally finish standard double-out 501. Your opponent’s darts do not count towards your nine.

The familiar route is 180, 180, then a 141 checkout. That means two visits of three treble 20s, followed by treble 20, treble 19 and double 12—not three consecutive 180s.

A nine-darter, dart by dart

In standard 501, you start on 501 and reduce your remaining score to exactly zero, with the last dart landing in a double. The inner bull scores 50 and also counts as a finishing double. These are the Darts Regulation Authority’s starting and finishing rules, sections 6.3.1–6.3.2.

Here is the 180–180–141 route. T means treble; D means double.

Visit	Darts	Points scored	Score remaining
1: darts 1–3	T20, T20, T20	180	321
2: darts 4–6	T20, T20, T20	180	141
3: darts 7–9	T20, T19, D12	141	0

The final visit works because 60 + 57 + 24 = 141. The ninth dart, double 12, takes the score to zero legally.

If that double is missed, the player may still win the leg—but it is no longer a nine-darter. For the wider scoring and bust rules, see our guide to 501 darts.

Why can’t you finish in eight darts?

The highest score with one dart is 60, from treble 20. But the finishing dart must be a double, whose highest value is the 50-point bull.

Even an eight-dart attempt with seven treble 20s and a bull would score only:

7 × 60 + 50 = 470

That is 31 short of 501. Nine darts are therefore necessary, and the worked route shows that nine are sufficient.

Do you need two 180s?

No. A nine-darter is defined by the starting total, legal finish and dart count—not one compulsory sequence.

For example, this alternative also works:

• 180: T20, T20, T20
• 177: T20, T20, T19
• 144: T20, T20, D12

Together, 180 + 177 + 144 = 501, with a double on dart nine. Even the 141 checkout in the first example has alternatives: T17, T18, D18 scores 51 + 54 + 36 = 141. That was the finishing route John Lowe used for his historic televised nine-darter.

Double-in 501 requires a different opening. At the 2011 World Grand Prix, Brendan Dolan completed the competition’s first nine-darter against James Wade with visits of 160, 180 and 161. A valid route for those totals is D20–T20–T20, then three T20s, then T20–T17–bull: a double to start and a double to finish.

What average is a nine-darter?

For that single completed leg, the three-dart average is:

501 ÷ 9 × 3 = 167.00

This includes the checkout. It is not a match average, and it does not mean each visit scored 167: the worked leg’s visits scored 180, 180 and 141.

A nine-darter measures one perfect leg, not sustained playing strength. For pub or league players, it is more useful to track overall average and finishing across all recorded legs than to use perfection as a routine target. Professional match averages likewise cover much more than a player’s best leg. Our first-nine average versus checkout percentage guide explains how to separate scoring from finishing.

Famous finishes—and what counts as a record

John Lowe hit the first televised nine-darter against Keith Deller at the MFI World Matchplay on 13 October 1984. That is a television milestone, not a claim that nobody had previously done it away from the cameras.

Another celebrated example came in the 2023 PDC World Championship final: Michael van Gerwen missed double 12 for his own nine-darter, then Michael Smith completed a 180–180–141 perfect leg.

When comparing record totals, distinguish televised finishes, streamed matches, other recorded tournament legs and practice achievements. Those are different categories. For player and event entries, see our nine-dart finishes by player and year.