One of the key aspects of darts is the ability to score heavily, this means you need to be able to hit a treble. As you get better, you also need to be able to hit trebles in order to set up a finish when faced with checkouts of 100+ which require three darts.
Everyone likes to practice on the treble 20 but this isn’t really the best way to get better at darts and that is where chase the dragon darts comes in useful. This is a darts practice game primarily, but it can also be used as a fun game with a similar concept to around the clock darts or shanghai darts that focus on trebles.
If you need to improve your ability to hit trebles when playing darts then read on, below we cover how to play chase the dragon dart game, a game designed to help with scoring on different numbers as well as one that can help you practice hitting trebles for larger checkouts. If you want to hit the big 100+ checkouts – this is the game for you…
How to Play Chase the Dragon Dart Game
Chase the dragon darts is a practice or competitive darts game that allows players to practice on their high-scoring trebles. The objective of chase the dragon darts is to hit all the trebles from numbers 10-20 in consecutive order followed by the bullseye. The first player to do this is declared the winner.
The reason why this is a good practice game is that it helps players practice on high-scoring trebles. This is essential for hitting checkouts of 60+ and even more important for checkouts that require three darts to finish – typically for remaining scores of 100+.
Below, we’ll cover the rules and scoring for chase the dragon, it’s a very simple game to play making it an ideal game for both beginners and experienced players alike but it’s also an easy dart game for a couple of players to play for fun.
Number of Players
1 – unlimited
Rules for Chase the Dragon Darts
For chase the dragon darts, each player takes turns to throw three darts at the dartboard. The aim is to hit all trebles from 10-20 in consecutive order followed by the bullseye to win the game.
Scoring for Chase the Dragon Darts
Scoring for chase the dragon darts is based on a progressive and advancement format. What this means is that once a target number is hit, you move on to the next number in sequential order. Players can’t move on to the next number until the target number is hit first.
To score in chase the dragon darts, you need to hit the trebles from 10-20 in sequential order. As an example, if you throw and hit treble 10, you can then move on to treble 11. If however you throw three darts and miss treble 10, you’ll need to wait for your next turn and then throw again for the number 10 until the treble is hit.
Players progress from treble 10-20 and once a player hits treble 20, they need to be the first player to hit the bullseye in order to win the game.
While the scoring system is simple for chase the dragon darts, there are some variations that can be used which we’ll now cover.
Chase the Dragon Darts Variations
Bonus throw – If players hit a treble with all three darts, they get another throw immediately. This rewards accuracy and is a good bonus for intermediate players that have the occasional perfect throw.
Start over – An opposite concept to bonus throw, the start over variation of chase the dragon darts means that if a treble is missed with any of your three darts players must go back to the beginning. This is most suitable for experienced players unlikely to miss but a variation for intermediate players is that a missed throw means players go back a number on their next throw.
If a player misses 15 for example, they will go back to 14 on their next throw.
All trebles – Instead of just focusing on numbers 10-20, all trebles mean that all numbers are used so players must hit all trebles from 1-20 in numerical order.
Handicap – The handicap version of chase the dragon darts is for when players of different skill levels are playing. Here, the more advanced player will start with a disadvantage and start on number 1 or 5, the lesser skilled player will start on 10. This gives players an equal chance to progress at a similar rate and increases competition – despite a difference in ability.
Summary
Chase the dragon darts is a great game for helping players improve on high-scoring trebles – which is ideal for cover shots or to help practice for large checkouts. The rules/scoring is very simple and straightforward so this is suitable for both the beginner and advanced player alike.
The only point to note is that if you are a beginner that is very new to darts, you might not yet have the skill to hit the trebles and this could end up being a very difficult game to play. For a more beginner-friendly game, you should try around the clock darts which I’ve linked to at the top of this article.
For that game, you hit darts in numerical order (same concept as chase the dragon darts) with a key exception being that all segments of the number are in play making it much easier to progress through the numbers for beginner players.
If you’ve enjoyed this game, you might also want to check out our section on practice games and general dart games here.