Almost any bar that has a darts has a chalkboard numbered like this:
20
19
18
17
16
15
B
There will usually be X’s and O’s next to the number, with the X inside the O. I’ve always wondered what dart game are they playing and how to keep score.
The object is to get three darts in each section. One slash for the first one in that section another cross slash for the second hit and a circle to indicate that all three shots are complete.
They are playing cricket.
fixed link.
As indicated above, cricket is what you are discribing.
The rules of popular dart games (Cricket, 301/501) are designed to spread the wear over the board, and to minimize the chances of hitting one dart with another, which can damage the darts.
What’s designed to spread the wear over the board is the ‘detach and rotate’ number ring that goes round the outside.
Chez, is that for real? I mean it makes sense and all, but I’ve never heard that.
The learning just never stops here on the Straight Dope.
That would be in the black sections, except for the bull. The middle red/green* ring scores triple and the outer r/g ring scores double. the red ring around the bull is a single, whereas the black center in a double.
I think regulation boards are all red/green. I could be wrong.
Regarding wear on the board, an interesting variant I’ve played is to shoot for the numbers 10 down from the traditional cricket targets, i.e. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and bull. Anyone else ever see this?
A bar I used to go to had a variation called “Wild Cricket.” It wsa EXACTLY the same as cricket except that instead of 20,19,18,17,16,15,B, it picked 6 random numbers and bullseye. Like I said, it’s the same, but when you play cricket 10 times a day (we had a real dart board at home, so we played alot) it put a little spin on the game.
Hey, it is the first time I had a shot at giving the first right answer in GQ if I had tried to go into that much detail I would probably have been like eighth due to slow typing… 
Totally.
This product is a typical example. When the treble 20 gets shot to pieces just detach and rotate the wire for a fresh bed.
Here’s another site with several different boards.
I love darts! 
That’s almost identical to my board, I never knew you could rotate that. I never even considered it. Mine has three nails holding the outer ring on. I don’t see why they couldn’t be pried out and moved. Neat.