How does Halve It work in darts?

You play through an agreed list of targets, one per round, and score whatever you hit on that target. If none of your three darts finds it, your entire running total is halved. Highest score after the final round wins, and a single bad round can undo four good ones.

What are the targets in Halve It?

There is no single official list. A common one is 20, 19, 18, any double, 17, any treble, 16, 15 and the bullseye. Some houses add 41 as a round, meaning three darts totalling exactly 41. Agree the list before the first dart because it changes the game completely.

Does the bullseye count as a double in Halve It?

On our scorer it does. The inner bull is a double worth 50 on the any double round, the same way it finishes a leg of 501 under double out. The outer bull is a single 25 and satisfies nothing but a bull round. Houses differ on this, so say which way you are playing before the round starts.

Do you round up or down when halving?

Down, in almost every house. An odd score of 45 becomes 22. It matters less than it sounds, but it is the sort of thing worth settling before somebody is on the wrong end of it.

Halve It

How does Halve It work?

You work through an agreed list of targets, one per round, scoring whatever you hit on that target. Miss it with all three darts and your entire running total is halved. Highest score at the end wins, and one bad round can undo four good ones.

Play it now

This is practice

40
round 1 of 9, the 20
1. 20
2. 19
3. 18
4. Dbl
5. 17
6. Tre
7. 16
8. 15
9. Bull
40
round 1 of 9, the 20
1. 20
2. 19
3. 18
4. Dbl
5. 17
6. Tre
7. 16
8. 15
9. Bull

Miss the 20 with all three and it costs 20. 40 would become 20, halved and rounded down.

Round 1 of 9. You need anything in the 20. A double is 40 and a treble is 60.

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Getting the board ready

A scoring game with a trapdoor in it. Build a comfortable lead over five rounds, miss one target completely, and watch half of it disappear. The board says what a missed round would cost you before you throw it, which is the number that decides the game. Set your own round list, choose how the halving rounds, and start throwing.

A common round list

There is no official list, which is the first thing to settle. This one is the most widely played and it is a reasonable default. On the any double round the inner bull counts as a double and scores 50, the same as it does finishing a leg of 501. The outer bull is a single 25 and only ever satisfies a bull round.

1 20: anything in the 20 bed
2 19
3 18
4 Any double: the bullseye counts, the 25 does not
5 17
6 Any treble
7 16
8 15
9 Bullseye: the last round, and the cruellest

The halving, and why it hurts

Three darts at the target. Hit it with any of them and you add what you hit, at full value, so a treble 18 in the 18 round is 54. Miss with all three and your total is cut in half, rounded down.

The cruelty is that halving scales with how well you are doing. A player on 40 who misses loses 20. A player on 260 who misses loses 130, and hands the game to somebody who has been quietly hitting 15s all evening.

It is also why the bullseye goes last. Everyone arrives at the final round with a score worth protecting and a one in six chance of keeping it, which is a much better ending than most games manage.

One player, six rounds

One missed round cost 58 points, more than the first two rounds put together.
Round	Hit	Total
20	60	60
19	38	98
18	18	116
Any double	missed	58
17	51	109
Any treble	57	166

Settle these first

The round list: The single biggest variable. Adding the bull twice, or dropping the double and treble rounds, changes the game entirely.
41: A round where you must score exactly 41 with three darts. Popular, and much harder than it looks.
Rounding: Down almost everywhere, so 45 becomes 22.
A floor: Some houses set a minimum you cannot fall below, usually 20, so a player who misses twice early is not out of it by round four.

Questions

How does Halve It work in darts?: You play through an agreed list of targets, one per round, and score whatever you hit on that target. If none of your three darts finds it, your entire running total is halved. Highest score after the final round wins, and a single bad round can undo four good ones.
What are the targets in Halve It?: There is no single official list. A common one is 20, 19, 18, any double, 17, any treble, 16, 15 and the bullseye. Some houses add 41 as a round, meaning three darts totalling exactly 41. Agree the list before the first dart because it changes the game completely.
Does the bullseye count as a double in Halve It?: On our scorer it does. The inner bull is a double worth 50 on the any double round, the same way it finishes a leg of 501 under double out. The outer bull is a single 25 and satisfies nothing but a bull round. Houses differ on this, so say which way you are playing before the round starts.
Do you round up or down when halving?: Down, in almost every house. An odd score of 45 becomes 22. It matters less than it sounds, but it is the sort of thing worth settling before somebody is on the wrong end of it.