Darts Tips for Beginners | A Darts Guide for Beginners

If you've just purchased a dart board and your first set of darts, you're probably looking for some darts tips for beginners so that you can hit the ground running.

There are countless games and rulesets that you can play. So many so that you can probably find yourself slightly overwhelmed and unsure where to start.

We've put together this list with a few tips and tricks that we believe should help any beginner to get started playing darts.

Learn how to play cricket darts

You might not find yourself playing 'cricket' frequently when playing darts (that is, of course, the darts variation), but you should definitely at least learn the ins and outs on how to play it.

Being the most commonly played game in darts, you will often find that bars and public venues will keep a handy scoreboard nearby.

Purchase a good set of darts

When purchasing a dart board, you will often find that it comes with one or two pairs of darts. These are generally low quality, cheap darts that are often even made of plastic, and will probably break within a short period of usage.

If you are serious about getting into darts, take the plunge and buy yourself a decent set of darts that you can use regularly, and avoid darts made of plastic.

With that said, it doesn't hurt to keep a couple of pairs of throw-away darts at home if you find yourself getting the dart board out at parties and family gatherings.

Darts with aluminum shafts are great for beginners. They are fairly sturdy, slightly heavier than plastic ones, and are much more durable in general. Eventually, you might like to upgrade to tungsten shafts, which are commonly used amongst the competitive scene by pros as they are made using much denser metal.

Work out your preferred grip

Books have quite literally been written on the subject of how to grip a dart. Despite how small a dart may seem, there are actually many different ways you can grip a dart.

There is no 'correct' way to grip your dart, but it is down to you to work out what dart grip is the best for you as early as possible. Three, four and five fingers are all commonly used. Some pros have even been known to be settled on just a two-finger grip.

As a beginner, it is probably worth trying out multiple grips in order to find the one that best suits you personally. You should also make sure you are not gripping your dart too tightly.

You need to have a firm enough grip on your dart to allow you to control it, but holding it too tightly means the dart can fly off more to the side of the spot you're actually aiming for.

Work out your stance preference

As with your grip, the way you stand when throwing a dart can play a key factor in taking your darts game to the next level.

You should be standing with your more dominant foot forward, assuring that you keep a straight line between yourself, your dart, and the dart board. You can often lean over the throwing line, but be sure to keep your feet firmly planted on the floor without learning too far forward, avoiding a change of angle as you're about to release your dart.

Side-stances are also much more common than the traditional 'both feet forward' stance in this modern day, as you may find that it tends to allow for a much more natural posture.

As with the grip of a dart, it really comes down to personal preference. Play around with your stance and find what best works for you. Once you have perfected your grip and stance preference, you should start to notice a significant improvement in your accuracy and your scores!

For a more in-depth guide on grips, stances, we recommend checking out our article on how to throw darts, where we elaborate on both of these topics further.