The complete rules
How to Play Football Darts 501
Football Darts 501, also called footy darts, is a football trivia game built on darts scoring. No board, no equipment: just football knowledge, two or more players, and someone keeping score. These are the complete rules, whether you play around a table or in the free app.
The game in one sentence: start on 501, take turns naming footballers, subtract each footballer's real stat from your score, and be the first to land between 0 and −10. Answers over 180 are an automatic bust.
What you need
- 2 to 8 players taking turns in a fixed order.
- A stat category everyone answers from, agreed before kick-off.
- A way to check stats: an agreed reference, or the Football Darts 501 app, which verifies every answer against official Premier League and UEFA Champions League data and keeps score for you.
Setting up
Every player starts each leg on the same score. 501 is the classic. Shorter or longer tables work too:
| Starting score | Feel |
|---|---|
| 301 | Fast party leg |
| 501 | The balanced classic |
| 701 | Longer, more tactical leg |
| 1001 | Marathon table |
Then pick the stat category for the leg. Popular categories:
- Premier League goals, assists, or goals + assists
- Champions League goals, assists, or goals + assists
- International caps
- World Cup goals
- Career appearances
- Clean sheets (name goalkeepers)
- Or a custom category your table agrees on, from Serie A goals to red cards
Taking a turn
- Name a footballer.
- Find their real stat in the chosen category, for example Thierry Henry in Premier League goals.
- Subtract that stat from your current score. That number is your new score.
Example: you are on 501 and answer Thierry Henry with 175 Premier League goals. 501 − 175 leaves you on 326. Play passes to the next player.
Knowing roughly what a player scored is the whole skill: big names burn score fast, journeymen chip away safely, and the finish demands precision.
Bust rules
A bust means your turn scores nothing: your score stays where it was and play moves on. You bust when:
- The stat is over 180. The darts maximum applies to every answer. Shearer's 260 Premier League goals is always a bust, however impressive.
- You finish below −10. Overshooting the finish zone busts you back to your previous score.
Advanced darts busts (optional)
Strict tables can also adopt the impossible-darts rules:
- Stats equal to an impossible three-dart total bust immediately: 163, 166, 169, 172, 173, 175, 176, 178, 179.
- Leaving yourself a positive score that darts cannot check out also busts: 159, 162, 163, 165, 166, 168, 169, 171 to 180.
Winning a leg: the finish zone
You win the leg the moment your score lands anywhere between 0 and −10, inclusive. Exact zero is not required; real stats are too messy for that. Precision still matters, because anything below −10 is a bust.
| Score before | Answer's stat | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 50 | 0, leg won |
| 50 | 56 | −6, leg won |
| 326 | 163 | 163 left, play on |
| 12 | 23 | −11, bust |
| 501 | 213 | Bust, stat over 180 |
Match formats
A single leg makes a quick game. For a match, play multiple legs: best of 3 (first to 2 legs), best of 5 (first to 3), or a league-night first to 7. The loser of a leg throws first in the next one.
House rules and variants
- No repeats (recommended): each footballer can be used once across all players, for the whole match or just the current leg. Spelling and accents do not matter; the player matters.
- Turn timer: an optional 10 to 60 second shot clock; at zero the turn is skipped with no score.
- Team filter: restrict answers to one club or country, and count only stats scored for that team. Anelka in a Chelsea game counts his Chelsea goals, not his full Premier League total.
- New category every leg: rotate the stat each leg to test broader knowledge.
- No hints: in the app, turn off name suggestions for a tougher quiz.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the finish zone 0 to −10 instead of exactly zero?
Hitting exactly 0 with real stats would be nearly impossible. The −10 buffer keeps finishes achievable while punishing greedy overshoots with a bust.
What counts as the correct stat?
Whatever source your table agrees on before kick-off; consistency beats precision. The app settles it with a database of official competition statistics, so the table never argues.
Can I name any footballer ever?
Yes, any era counts as long as they have a stat in the category. Retired legends are often the best tactical picks.
What if nobody can finish?
Legs always end: scores only ever go down, and the finish zone is 11 numbers wide. If you are stuck on a tricky number like 5, you need a player with 5 to 15 in the category. That is the fun part.
How long does a game take?
A 501 leg between two players usually runs 5 to 10 minutes. A best-of-3 match fits comfortably in half an hour, even with arguing.
Can I play Football Darts 501 online?
Yes. Host a private online room in the app, share the invite code, and up to 8 players join from their own devices with live scores and reconnect support. One phone passed around the table works just as well for local play.
Is Football Darts 501 free?
Yes, the game is free to play in the browser, with no account and no payment. Played verbally at a table it costs nothing but pride.
Play it with real stats checked for you
Football Darts 501 is free to play in the browser, with online private rooms for 2 to 8 players, local pass-and-play on one device, and a database of 12,000+ footballers built from official Premier League and UEFA Champions League statistics. iPhone and Android apps are on the way.