Darts practice games.
Solo drills that give you something specific to work on, not just aimless scoring. Each one trains a different part of your game, most can be played alone against the board, and most have a DartCounter training mode so your results get tracked automatically.
Bob's 27
Bob Anderson's classic. The falling score puts real pressure on every double, like a leg-deciding dart.
Start on 27 points. Three darts at D1, then D2, up to D20, then the bull. Each hit adds the double value, a blank visit subtracts it. Drop below zero and the game is over.
Around the Clock
The classic all-board accuracy test. No hiding from your weak sectors.
Hit 1, then 2, up to 20, any bed counts. Play with a friend and whoever clears the board first wins, or play solo and track your dart count.
Shanghai
Forces clean scoring on every sector, not just the 20 bed.
20 rounds. Round 1 you score only on 1s, round 2 only on 2s, up to 20. Doubles and trebles count. Hit single, double and treble of the live number in one visit for a Shanghai, an instant win.
High Score
Pure scoring under a fixed dart count, the cleanest 3-dart average test there is.
30 visits of 3 darts, score everything. T20 is the percentage play but switch to 19s when the 20 bed feels crowded.
121 Challenge
A pro staple. Trains setup, treble pressure and the finishing double in one routine.
Start on 121 with six darts to finish, double out. Check it out and move up one (122). Fail and drop one (120). Play 10 attempts and see how high you climb.
Halvers
Punishes a blank visit harder than any other game, so it teaches you to never throw three loose darts.
Targets in order: 20, 19, any treble, 18, any double, 17, 16, three different colours, 15, three clockwise neighbours, 14, bull. Score only darts on the live target. Miss with all three and your running total halves.
Golf Darts
Only your last dart counts, so it trains the discipline of making dart three your best dart.
Each number is a hole. Throw up to 3 darts, only the final dart thrown scores: double 1 stroke, treble 2, fat single 3, thin single 4, miss 5. You may stop after dart 1 or 2 to bank a good score. Par is 54.
High Jump
A precision ladder straight up the middle of the board, finishing on the hardest doubles.
Three darts per rung. Hit the target and move up. Miss with all three and your jump ends there. Note the highest rung you reach.
Play any of these through DartCounter and CSWStats pulls the results into your Training tab automatically, plus a full personalised drill plan built from your own match data.
Common questions
What's the best darts practice game for beginners?
Around the Clock. It forces you to aim at every number on the board in order, so there's no hiding from your weak sectors, and there's no scoring maths to keep track of while you're learning.
What game trains checkouts specifically?
Bob's 27 for doubles generally, and the 121 Challenge for a realistic finishing scenario under six-dart pressure. See the darts checkout chart for the routes themselves.
How often should I do practice games versus just playing matches?
Matches teach you to perform under pressure, but they don't isolate a weakness the way a drill does. Most players get the most out of a short warm-up drill (5 to 10 minutes) before a session, then match play for the rest. The darts stats guide has more on reading your own numbers to work out what to drill.