How to Play Killer Darts

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Killer Darts is a competitive elimination game played on a standard dartboard, best suited to groups of three or more. Each player fights to protect their own number while hunting down everyone else's, which makes every round personal and every throw count.

It is a pub staple across the UK precisely because it scales well, keeps eliminated players watching intently, and generates genuine tension right to the final throw. No team handicaps or complicated scoring systems are needed: the format is immediately understood and brutally fair.

A little history

Darts itself has been played in British pubs since at least the late nineteenth century, and regional elimination formats were a natural development of social play. The specific format known as Killer is widely documented in British pub-games literature from the mid-twentieth century onward, but its exact origins are unclear. It is traditionally regarded as a British invention and remains one of the most commonly played informal darts formats in the UK.

Setting up

1. Hang the dartboard so the bull is exactly 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) from the floor.
2. Mark the throwing line (oche) 7 ft 9.25 in (2.37 m) from the face of the board.
3. Each player throws one dart at the board with their non-dominant hand, or with eyes closed, to randomly determine their personal number. The dart must land in a numbered segment (1-20); if it lands in the bull or misses the board entirely, that player throws again.
4. Record each player's assigned number on the scoreboard. No two players may share a number; if there is a clash, the second player re-throws.
5. Write every player's name on the scoreboard and mark five lives next to each name. Tally marks or dots both work well.

How to play

1. Players take turns in an agreed order, each throwing all three darts per turn.
2. On your turn, you must first earn killer status by hitting your own number on the board exactly five times (doubles count as two hits, triples as three). Hits in the double ring count double and in the triple ring count triple toward your tally of five.
3. Once you have accumulated five hits on your own number, you become a killer. Mark this clearly on the scoreboard (a 'K' alongside your name is standard).
4. As a killer, your objective changes: you now aim to hit other players' numbers. Each time you land a dart in another player's number, that player loses one life. Doubles remove two lives; triples remove three.
5. A killer who accidentally hits their own number loses one life per hit (doubles cost two, triples cost three). This keeps killers honest and prevents deliberate stalling near the board.
6. A non-killer who accidentally hits another player's number has no effect on that player's lives. Only killers can remove lives from others.
7. A player whose lives reach zero is eliminated and takes no further turns.
8. If a killer loses all their own lives, they are eliminated immediately and lose killer status.
9. Play continues until only one player has one or more lives remaining. That player wins.
10. If two players are the last ones standing and are both killers, normal play continues until one eliminates the other.

Winning and scoring

The last player with at least one life remaining is the winner. There are no points and no tiebreaker score: the game produces a single outright winner. In the rare event that the final two players eliminate each other on the same turn (which can happen if a killer hits the opponent's last life and that same opponent, later in the round, does the same), the player who threw last is considered eliminated first and the other player wins. To avoid ambiguity, turns should always be completed in strict order with the result of each dart noted before the next player throws.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns whether a player who is not yet a killer can accidentally harm others. The standard ruling is no: only a confirmed killer can remove lives, so stray darts from non-killers are simply ignored for scoring purposes. A related argument involves a killer hitting their own number: the majority rule is that this does cost lives, which stops a killer from deliberately targeting their own number to reset to non-killer status and avoid the pressure of having to attack.

A second frequent edge case is the exact definition of 'hitting your number' during the becoming-a-killer phase. The widely accepted rule is that any segment bearing your number counts, including the double and triple rings, with those rings counting as two and three hits respectively toward your total of five. Some groups play that only the single segment counts during the setup phase; agree this before the game begins. Similarly, agree in advance whether the bull counts as a valid random-assignment target: most groups re-throw from the bull to keep numbers in the 1-20 range.

How to win more often

• Aim for your triple during the killer-earning phase. Three good treble hits get you to killer status in a single turn, putting pressure on everyone else immediately.
• Once you are a killer, target the player closest to elimination first. Splitting your darts across multiple opponents is rarely efficient; concentrated attacks finish players faster and reduce the number of active killers hunting you.
• Track your own lives carefully. A reckless killer who keeps clipping their own number will find themselves eliminated without ever landing a telling blow.
• If you are low on lives, consider aiming to disrupt the most dangerous killer rather than the weakest player. Removing a killer's last life ends their threat instantly.
• In larger games (six or more players), hang back slightly during the killer-earning phase. Being the last to become a killer means fewer killers are targeting you while others fight amongst themselves.

Variations

Fixed Number Assignment

Instead of the random throw-in, the host assigns numbers in advance, either by drawing slips of paper or going around the board in order. This speeds up setup and avoids the occasional dispute over borderline throws during the assignment phase. It also allows the host to separate players of similar ability onto adjacent numbers, which can make early eliminations more likely and keep the game moving.

Team Killer

Players split into two equal teams, each team sharing a single number and a shared pool of lives. A team becomes killers only when every member has hit their number the required number of times. Teams then target the opposing team's number. This works well for even numbers of players and introduces a cooperative element to an otherwise every-player-for-themselves format.

Sudden Death Killer

Each player has only one life instead of five, and a single hit from a killer eliminates them outright. This produces a very short, very high-stakes game and works best when you want a quick result or are playing multiple rounds in an evening. The random assignment throw becomes even more consequential, as there is no margin for error at any stage.

Three-Life Killer

A common middle-ground variant that reduces starting lives from five to three. The game moves faster than standard Killer without the sudden brutality of the one-life version. This is a sensible default for groups new to the format or when time is limited, and it slightly reduces the advantage held by more experienced players who can protect five lives over a long game.

Killer Darts: frequently asked questions