Dartboard Numbers Explained: The Full Order and Why It Works

Clockwise from the 20 at the top, a standard dartboard reads: 20, 1, 18, 4, 13, 6, 10, 15, 2, 17, 3, 19, 7, 16, 8, 11, 14, 9, 12, 5. As you look at the board, 1 sits immediately to the right of the 20 and 5 sits immediately to the left, with the 3 directly at the bottom.

That order is not decoration and it is not random. It is the single thing that turns a circle of twenty numbers into a game of skill, because it puts the smallest numbers on the board hard up against the biggest ones. Here is the full layout, the thinking behind it, and the reason the man usually credited with inventing it almost certainly never existed.

Last updated 17 September 2026.

The dartboard number order in full

Every regulation bristle board is numbered identically, and is hung with the black 20 segment at 12 o'clock. Read clockwise from there and you get the sequence below, along with each number's two neighbours.

A few things fall out of that table straight away. The twenty numbers add up to 210. The pairs of numbers sitting directly opposite each other across the board all land between 14 and 25, averaging 21, so no matter which line you draw through the bullseye you get roughly the same total on each side. And the 3 sits at the bottom, directly opposite the 20.

Why the numbers are in that order

The layout exists to punish a poor throw. Every large number is flanked by small ones, so missing your target by a single segment costs you almost everything you were aiming for.

The five biggest numbers on the board prove the point. The 20 has 5 and 1 either side, a combined total of 6. The 18 has 1 and 4, a total of 5. The 17 has 2 and 3, again 5. Across the top five numbers, the neighbours average just 8.2. Board-wide the average neighbour total is 21.

Turn it round and the same design works in reverse. The 1 is surrounded by 20 and 18 for a total of 38, and the 5 sits between 12 and 20. Aim badly at the smallest numbers and you can be accidentally rewarded, which matters enormously in the closing stages of a leg when you are throwing at a specific double rather than for score.

What it means for where you aim

This is the arithmetic behind one of the oldest pieces of practical darts advice: when your grouping is loose, score on the 19s instead of the 20s.

• Miss the treble 20 by one segment and you hit treble 5 (15) or treble 1 (3), an average of 9.
• Miss the treble 19 by one segment and you hit treble 7 (21) or treble 3 (9), an average of 15.
• Three darts in the 19 bed scores 57 rather than 60, so the ceiling is only three points lower, but the floor is considerably higher.

That does not make the 19s the right target for everyone. Professionals stay on the 20s because their grouping is tight enough that the punishment rarely arrives. For club and pub players still building consistency, the 19s are a genuinely sensible option, and our guide to improving your darts accuracy covers the practice routines that eventually let you move back up.

Who actually designed the layout

Almost every account you will read credits Brian Gamlin, described as a carpenter from Bury in Lancashire who devised the sequence in 1896 and died in 1903 before he could patent it. It is a tidy story and it is repeated everywhere.

It also appears to be untrue. The darts historian Dr Patrick Chaplin searched the death records for the relevant years and counties and found no trace of Gamlin at all, concluding that the man never existed and that the story surfaced no earlier than the 1970s.

The better-documented claim belongs to Thomas Buckle, a Yorkshire wireworker who is recorded as converting a fives board into the twenty-segment board with today's numbering in Dewsbury in 1913, and who later appears in Leeds trade directories as a wireworker in 1916 and a dartboard maker by 1938. Unlike Gamlin, Buckle leaves a paper trail. On the current evidence, the Yorkshire claim is the stronger one.

How the board is divided up

The numbering is only half the story. Each of the twenty segments is cut into four scoring areas by the wire spider:

• Single — the two larger areas of the segment, worth face value.
• Treble — the thin ring roughly halfway out, worth three times face value. Treble 20 is the highest-value bed on the board at 60.
• Double — the thin ring on the outer edge, worth twice face value, and the only way to finish a leg of 501.
• Bull — the outer ring scores 25 and the inner bullseye scores 50. The bullseye counts as a double, which is why it can finish a leg.

That last point matters more than it looks. Because the bull counts as a double, it can also open a leg in the one format where you have to hit a double to get started — the double-in, double-out rules used at the World Grand Prix.

Segments alternate black and cream, starting with a black 20 at the top. Each segment's double and treble share a colour, red on the black segments and green on the cream ones, which is why the treble 20 is red and the treble 19 is green. Three darts in the treble 20 gives the maximum score of 180, and the highest possible finish from a single visit is 170: treble 20, treble 20, bullseye.

If you are putting a board up at home, the numbering is fixed but the height and throwing distance are not something to guess at. Our dartboard setup guide covers the official measurements, and you can see the full bristle dartboard range if you are still choosing one.

Boards that use a different layout

The twenty-segment board is now standard worldwide, but it beat several regional rivals on the way, and a few survive:

• Yorkshire board — the same twenty numbers in the same order, but with no treble ring and no outer bull. Doubles only.
• Manchester log end — a much smaller playing area, again with no trebles, traditionally made from a solid piece of elm rather than sisal.
• London Fives — twelve segments rather than twenty, scoring in multiples of five, with extremely narrow doubles and trebles.

Electronic boards for soft tip darts keep the standard twenty-number layout, so everything above applies to them too. The segments are moulded plastic with holes rather than compressed sisal, and the throwing distance differs, but the numbers sit exactly where you expect them.

Could the layout be improved?

Mathematically, yes. David Percy of the University of Salford has published an alternative twenty-number arrangement that penalises inaccuracy more evenly than the traditional one, by alternating odd and even numbers around the board and spreading similar values further apart.

It will never be adopted. A century of muscle memory, every checkout route players have learned, and the entire visual grammar of televised darts all depend on the 20 being flanked by 1 and 5. The standard board is not the optimal solution to the problem. It is a very good one that arrived first.

Frequently Asked Questions

What number is to the right of 20 on a dartboard?

The 1. Looking at the board from the throwing line, 1 sits immediately clockwise of the 20 and 5 sits immediately anticlockwise, so the top of the board reads 5, 20, 1 from left to right.

What is the order of the numbers on a dartboard?

Clockwise from the top: 20, 1, 18, 4, 13, 6, 10, 15, 2, 17, 3, 19, 7, 16, 8, 11, 14, 9, 12, 5. Every regulation board uses this same sequence.

Which number is at the bottom of a dartboard?

The 3, directly opposite the 20. The 17 sits to its left and the 19 to its right as you look at the board.

Why is 20 at the top of the dartboard?

Convention rather than arithmetic. Boards are hung with the black 20 segment at 12 o'clock so that every player is aiming at the same target in the same place, and so scorers, spectators and cameras all read the board the same way. Rotating the board would not change any score, but it would make every learned checkout route unfamiliar.

Do all the numbers on a dartboard add up to anything significant?

The twenty numbers total 210. More interesting is that pairs of numbers directly opposite each other all fall between 14 and 25, averaging 21, so the board is balanced whichever way you slice it through the bullseye.

Should I aim at the 20s or the 19s?

If your three darts land in a tight group, stay on the 20s for the extra three points a visit. If they spray, the 19 bed is more forgiving: a one-segment miss there averages 15 in the trebles against 9 next to the 20. Many club players score on the 19s and switch to the 20s as their grouping tightens.

Do electronic dartboards use the same number layout?

Yes. Soft tip and electronic boards use the identical twenty-number sequence, singles, doubles, trebles and bull. The scoring surface and the throwing distance differ, but the numbering does not.

Sources: Dr Patrick Chaplin on the origins of the dartboard numbering; WDF Playing Rules; PDC Rules of Darts. Neighbour and opposite-pair totals calculated by ArrowHeadz from the standard board layout.