High Score - the game

[mongoose]

i asked Sauger, a PA American dart shooter about a game he plays regularly in a weekly dart league called "high score". here are the rules . . .

in high score each team shoots 9 "rounds". A shooter is permitted to shoot at any inning on the board(1 -20). If a dart lands in the little white, it is 3 times whatever inning it is, in the red 2 times and big white 1 time. (ex. a little white in the "20" is 60 points, a red in the "2" is 4 points, a big white in the "17" is 17 points).

Scores for 3 man teams average between 1800 - 2400 although of course higher scores are sometimes shot. A great individual game is 1000 points. The most I have ever been a part of as a 3 person team is 3100, and that was about 11 years ago. It just depends on the three shooting and how they do.

that sounds like a pretty basic game. i'm sure that one of the pub dart shooters will chime in that it's similar to something they play.

i think major league baseball and darts are a good marriage because running the numbers/stats is sooo tempting. so, i ran some on your scores.

each shooter in a game shoots 27 darts. to land 1,000 points is averaging 37 points per dart. that's basically hitting the red in the 20 with every dart. that is a great game!

two things i have to ask:

am i getting the strategy on this right? is it basically everyone shooting at the red twenty all night?

and if so, do you guys rotate your boards pretty frequently? i'd imagine having a couple of teams banging the same inning dart after dart can chew up a board pretty quick.

[sauger]

Yes, most people do shoot at the twenty but some who have problems will shoot at a number in the bottom half of the board. Also when blocked, a shooter may shoot a different number.
We have special scoresheets for each of the differnent games I have mentioned, Drop me your address on the private message and I will forward copies you can xerox.
we do rotate our boards more than usual but not as much as one would think. The 1 -9 get worn out before the 20 does most times

[mongoose]

attached is a printable version of a scoresheet used for the game of High Score (compliments of Sauger).

[rjb]

Hello!

Maybe the following conversions to baseball scores would be helpful to translate?

1800 ~ 90 team score for three shooters = 30 average per shooter
2400 ~ 120 team score for three shooters = 40 average per shooter
3100 ~ 155 team score for three shooters = 51.67 average per shooter

1000 Game ~ 50 Game

However please be aware that consistently shooting at the same target makes the game easier. Oh I realize there are no gimmies in darts. But not having to change your target all game long is definitely of benefit to the shooter. So the conversions above are likely a little too high. A 1000 game may only translate to about a 45 game if you have to hit targets all around the board.

Please let me know if I messed up the conversions. Basically I just moved from scoring in the 20 to scoring in the 1.

[rjb]

I forgot to mention that in the high score game you can actually score unintended points. Some folks call it catching slop. You might hit a triple 5 worth 15 points while aiming for the 20. Another plus on the scoring side is that you can change targets if you get blocked out in one inning. Those little perks are not applicable to the game of baseball...

[Freezerburned]

Sounds kind of like a game calles X's
A player throws three darts and scores the same way as above, the next player counts his score, pulls his darts and has to beat the previous score, if he doesnt beat the previous score, he gets an x. Five x's and you're out. Last player standing wins.

[sauger]

Freezerburned,
We call the game you mentioned "gunk". Three "gunks" and your out.