170 is the highest checkout in darts. Under double out the only way to finish it is treble 20, treble 20, bull: 60 + 60 + 50. Players call it the Big Fish; Wikipedia's darts glossary also lists "maximum check-out" and "perfect finish" for the same shot.
| Highest checkout with | Score | Route |
|---|---|---|
| 3 darts | 170 | T20, T20, Bull |
| 2 darts | 110 | T20, Bull |
| 1 dart | 50 | Bull |
We checked these by testing every combination of up to three darts with code, with the bull counted as double 25 as in WDF Playing Rule 2.04.
Why 170 is the highest checkout
Two numbers set the ceiling:
- The first two darts score at most 120. Nothing on the board beats treble 20 (60).
- The last dart scores at most 50. It must be a double or the bull, and the bull (double 25) is the biggest double. Double 20 is only 40.
120 + 50 = 170. Every score above 170 needs at least two visits under double out. Under master out a treble may finish, so the ceiling rises to 180 (T20, T20, T20); see double out, master out and straight out.
The only route, and why it is hard
Most big scores have several routes. 170 has exactly one: we found no other combination of three darts that adds up to 170 and ends on a double. The order is fixed too, because the bull must come last.
That makes 170 a test of the two smallest targets you normally aim at. From the WDF board dimensions, one treble bed covers about 260 mm² and the bull about 127 mm², against about 417 mm² for a double bed (derived from WDF rule 4.01, wire thickness ignored). You need the treble twice and then a target half the size of a treble.
The big finishes from 170 down
The chart gives one route per score. Here are all the routes for the top of the range. We count combinations: T20, T19, Bull and T19, T20, Bull are the same combination thrown in a different order.
| Left | Routes | All combinations |
|---|---|---|
| 170 | 1 | T20, T20, Bull |
| 169, 168 | none | bogey numbers |
| 167 | 1 | T20, T19, Bull |
| 166, 165 | none | bogey numbers |
| 164 | 2 | T20, T18, Bull · T19, T19, Bull |
| 163, 162 | none | bogey numbers |
| 161 | 2 | T20, T17, Bull · T19, T18, Bull |
| 160 | 2 | T20, T20, D20 · T20, Bull, Bull |
| 159 | none | bogey number |
| 158 | 4 | T20, T16, Bull · T19, T17, Bull · T18, T18, Bull · T20, T20, D19 |
| 157 | 2 | T20, T19, D20 · T19, Bull, Bull |
| 156 | 1 | T20, T20, D18 |
| 155 | 4 | T20, T15, Bull · T19, T16, Bull · T18, T17, Bull · T20, T19, D19 |
| 154 | 4 | T20, T18, D20 · T19, T19, D20 · T20, T20, D17 · T18, Bull, Bull |
| 153 | 1 | T20, T19, D18 |
Four of them have a single route: 170, 167, 156 and 153. And only four checkouts in the whole game need the bull whatever you do: 170, 167, 164 and 161. From 160 down, every score that can be finished has at least one route without the bull (our count over all scores from 2 to 170).
The seven scores up to 170 that cannot be finished at all, 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159, are the bogey numbers. The checkout chart marks them, and darts checkouts explained shows how routes are built.
The highest two-dart and one-dart finishes
With two darts, the first can score up to 60 and the second must be a double or the bull:
| Left | Two-dart finish |
|---|---|
| 110 | T20, Bull (the only one) |
| 107 | T19, Bull |
| 104 | T18, Bull |
| 101 | T17, Bull |
| 100 | T20, D20 or Bull, Bull |
The scores in between (109, 108, 106, 105, 103, 102) and 99 need three darts. With one dart, the highest finish is 50 (the bull), then 40 (D20).
170 and the nine-dart finish
A nine-darter is a 501 leg in nine darts, the minimum. Wikipedia counts 3,944 possible ways to throw one, and our own count of every ordered sequence gives the same figure. The classic version is six treble 20s and then 141.
540 of the 3,944 end with the Big Fish (our count). For that the first six darts must score 331, split into two visits in one of these ways: 180 and 151, 177 and 154, 174 and 157, 171 and 160, 170 and 161, or 167 and 164, in either order. The traditional nine-darter that Wikipedia describes, 180, 180, 141, is not one of them.
Other names for big finishes
Wikipedia's darts glossary lists these, and we did not find a documented origin for them:
- Big Fish, maximum check-out, perfect finish: 170, "triple-20, triple-20, inner bull".
- Baby fish: 130 thrown as T20, 20, Bull (or 20, T20, Bull).
Searching for "Big Fish Darts" may also bring up a UK pub league app with that name. It is a separate product and has nothing to do with us or with this page.
Your highest checkout in Darts Counter
Darts Counter suggests T20, T20, Bull as soon as you are on 170, and a route for every other finish from 167 down (see how the app suggests checkouts). Your Statistics keep each player's highest checkout, shown as Max. Checkout. We checked in the code how it is recorded: it is the score you had at the start of the visit in which you finished, so a Big Fish is saved as 170.
Two limits to know. The app starts X01 games at 301 to 901 only, so you cannot start a practice leg on 170. And a fresh install starts in Straight Out; set Double Out in the X01 setup so that your 170 counts the way it does in a match.
Want a practice start at 170 in Darts Counter? Tell us
Sources
Written by FLAME Apps, maker of Darts Counter since 2015. Checked 2026-09-25. All route counts come from a full search of every combination of up to three darts; the nine-dart counts from a full search of every ordered nine-dart sequence (it reproduces Wikipedia's 3,944, 2,296 ending on the bull and 672 ending on D20).
- WDF Playing and Tournament Rules, 20th revised edition, rules 2.02 to 2.04 (double finish, bull as double 25) and 4.01 (board dimensions)
- Wikipedia: Glossary of darts (Big Fish, maximum check-out, perfect finish, baby fish)
- Wikipedia: Darts, section "Finishing and check outs"
- Wikipedia: Nine-dart finish (3,944 ways)
- Big Fish Darts (the unrelated pub league app)
- Keep reading: darts checkouts explained, darts checkout chart
