A bounce-out in darts is one of the most infuriating things for darts players.
You only get three darts per throw to rack up a score so when you suffer from a bounce-out, you instantly lose 30+ points as a pro player (based on professionals having a 90+ three-dart average).
That’s the difference between a throw at a double and losing a leg!
Over the years, dartboards have been redesigned with ‘diamond’ and ‘staple-free’ wires to try to reduce bounce-outs as much as possible.
Even with these changes though, players still suffer from unfortunate bounce-outs all the time.
In this list we’ve compiled the UNLUCKIEST bounce-outs in darts history.
If you think your random bounce out throwing for T20 is bad, wait until you see the type bounce-outs some of the best players on the planet experience…
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Alan Soutar Missed ‘9-darter’ With Bounce-Out
In a 2022 Grand Slam of Darts match against Nathan Aspinall, Alan Souter hit a 10-dart leg.
A 10-dart leg according to the rule book that is.
If you watch the leg play out, Soutar had a bounce-out on his first throw.
Take the bounce-out away from the equation and he potentially had a 9-darter.
Would he have hit the 9-darter if it wasn’t for a bounce-out? That’s impossible to say but you can definitely say it’s an unlucky bounce-out when you throw that many perfect darts.
James Wilson Bounce Out to Robin Hood Combo
We think Anderson had the unluckiest bounce out. His bounce out quite literally cost him a 180 score which is hard to beat.
James Wilson however had an unlucky bounce out COMBINED with a Robin Hood (another unfortunate shot in darts).
People on Reddit have actually debated the probability of hitting a Robin Hood in darts and even at the professional level, statistically it could take thousands and thousands of throws to hit one.
^^ Side note, that thread is an interesting read even if you don’t like math.
James Wilson seemingly did the impossible by hitting the board first and the resulting bounce out spinning into another dart to create a robin hood.
It’s actually hard for the mind to grasp when watching it because it’s just so rare.
3 Bounce-Outs In a Single Leg!
Do you see the point we made above about people trying to work out the probability of a Robin Hood.
Well, a bounce out is more likely but we’re certain that having three of them in just a single leg is VERY unlikely.
Not for professional players though it would seem.
In a Players Championship match between Corey Cadby and Vincent van der Voort in 2019, these two players combined for 3 bounce-outs in just 6 throws.
Cadby was the unluckier of the pair with 2 x bounce-outs but this leg is for sure one you don’t see every day!
Michael Smith’s Bounce-Out Costs Him 120 Points
Michael Smith has 2 x darts in the T20, you know he’s a heavy scorer and good grouper so it’s an easy assumption that his last dart would be good.
Well…
Smith not only misses the treble with his last dart hitting a single 20 but on route he knocks out BOTH darts already in the board.
What should have been a solid 140 score ended up being just 20.
Now that is what you call an unlucky bounce-out.
Mervyn King’s 170 Bounce-Out
In the 2019 Danish Darts Open, Mervyn King was trailing Gabriel Clemens 2-0 in legs in a first to 6.
In the third leg, King was on 170 finish while Clemens had 54 remaining so there was pressure on King’s throw to stop the game getting away from him.
His first two darts were perfect hitting T20 both times to leave the Bull finish.
Unfortunately, the maximum checkout wasn’t going to happen for him…
King suffered from a bounce-out with the commentators even exclaiming that you can see the mark on the Bullseye where the dart was in.
It’s hard to see what happened even slowing the video down but we do know that of all the times to get a bounce-out, doing it on a maximum checkout when you’re under pressure is right up there when it comes to the unluckiest.
Adrian Lewis Also Suffers a 170 Bounce-Out
As with Mervyn King, Adrian Lewis left himself a 170 finish in the 2015 Auckland Darts Master match against Raymond van Barneveld.
The first two darts were perfect to set up the finish but the wire on the Bull would prove to be an issue for Lewis.
This was 2015 and when the camera zooms in for the shot at the Bull, you can really see just how thick the wires used to be not even a decade ago.
No wonder we had such an easy time making this list 😅
Any 170 bounce-out is incredibly unlucky but we think King’s was an unluckier bounce-out of the two.
Lewis was already leading Barney whereas King was behind and needed the finish to stop Clemens getting away from him.
John Lowe’s Double Bounce-Out
This is a rare one.
John Lowe throws for the T20 and has a bounce out with his first two darts.
We don’t know what the odds are of that but watch the video and look at the size of the wire and the staples!!
There’s more metal than sisal on those old school boards.
It’s unlucky but looking at the board we’d also say hardly surprising.
Gary Anderson’s No Score Bounce-Out
Gary Anderson had what we believe to be the unluckiest bounce-out.
Smith knocked out 2 x T20’s but his third dart was not treble bound and he still scored 20. It was incredibly unlucky but we think Anderson was unluckier.
Anderson also scored 2 x T20’s but his third dart was perfectly grouped for a 180 score.
The issue?
He hit the darts already in the board and knocked them all out resulting in a no score.
He went from a perfect maximum to a no score before you could even blink.
Technically it was a no score but you can see all three darts land in the treble bed so we’re actually going to claim this to be a reverse maximum (-180 scored).
He had the points on the scoreboard only for them to be wiped away…
What did you think of this list?
Let us know if we missed any obvious and unlucky bounce-outs in the comments below.
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