Fives
Players
One or more
Description
This is a difficult game that requires scoring with each dart. It also makes use of addition and division.
Area of play
All of the numbers are valid scoring areas. The only area of the board which is not a valid scoring area is the outer area outside of the doubles ring.
Object
The object of the game is to be the first player to reach fifty-one(51) points exactly. The game can be played to a higher or lower score, but fifty-one is the most common.
Scoring
All players start with a score of zero(0). All three of a player’s darts must land in a valid area of play or the player will score no points. After all three darts have been thrown, their values are summed. If the value is evenly divisible by five(5) then that divided value is added to their score. If the result of the thrown darts is not divisible by five evenly, the player receives no points for the round.
• A dart that lands in the double ring, has its corresponding value doubled.
• A dart that lands in the triple ring, has its corresponding value tripled.
• A dart that lands in the single bullseye, has a value of twenty-five(25).
• A dart that lands in the double bullseye, has a value of fifty(50).
Example
Franklin is playing a game of fives and it is his first throw. On his first toss he strikes the board on the double twenty. The score for that one throw is twenty doubled, or forty. For his second toss he strikes the one(1), and the third is a four(4). Forty plus one plus four is forty-five(45). Forty-five divided by five is 9. Franklin has scored 9 points.
Play
Play begins by determining which player will throw first. This is commonly done by having players ‘diddle for the middle’, but any other method is fine.
After determining the order of play, players will take turns throwing their set of three darts and scoring them. The player to reach a score of 51 first is the winner. There are some other complications though.
If a player is left unable to ‘go out’ even if they were able to throw more darts, this player has busted.
Bust
A player has busted when he or she is unable to get their score closer to the target of 51. This can only happen when the player has a score that is greater than the target.
When a player busts, all points tallied for that round are ignored. In some games players might wish to impose a stronger penalty for busting. In those games points equal to the amount the player’s score went negative are added to the player’s score placing them further from their goal of zero(0) than they were before.
Example
Franklin has a remaining score of fifty(50). If he wants to go out this round, his darts must sum up to five(5) so that he will score exactly one point. The only way to do this and still score with each dart is to throw two twos(2) and a one(1) or two ones(1) and a three(3). Somehow he scores three bullseyes instead. That gives him 15 points (75/5) which is way more than he needed. All the points he has scored this round are ignored leaving him with a score of fifty(50) again.
Valid Throws
In an Fives game the valid throws button will show you which numbers are valid (blue shade), which are invalid (dark red shade), and which numbers will allow you to go out (green shade). In fives, since you have to score with each dart, and that score total is divided by 5 each round the valid throws can be very helpful, but also somewhat confusing. If you have 7 points left to go out and press the Valid button triple 20 will be invalid but 20 will be valid, even though 20 is greater than 7. This is because you need 35 points in darts to gain 7 points in a round of fives, so 20 is a valid throw on your first dart.