The first time I watched a professional darts match, I’ll admit I was completely lost, like, “accidentally walked into a physics symposium” levels of confused. There were flashing lights, a crowd singing darts chants at the top of their lungs and commentators casually throwing around terms like “legs” and “sets”. Meanwhile, I was sitting on my couch, squinting at the screen, trying to figure out why the entire arena lost their minds every time a player hit what appeared to be the exact same spot three times in a row.

I remember thinking, “Surely there’s more to this? Why is hitting triple-20 three times more exciting than hitting different numbers?” The math made my head spin, players starting at 501, counting down, needing to finish on doubles… It felt like watching someone do algebra while holding sharp objects. The players had these intense nicknames like “The Iceman” or “The Power,” walking on stage to thumping music like rockstars, while I sat there with my snack, utterly bewildered but weirdly fascinated.

If you’ve ever found yourself in that position, nodding along while secretly having no clue why everyone’s cheering, don’t worry. I’ve been there too, staring blankly at the screen as commentators gasped about “ton-eighties” and “nine-darters.” But here’s the good news, by the time you finish reading this, those confusing moments will make perfect sense. You’ll understand exactly what’s happening when those little tungsten missiles start flying, why certain shots make the crowd erupt and most importantly, you’ll finally get why hitting the same spot three times is actually one of the most impressive things you can do in sports.

The Tournament Formats Explained, When Legs Become Sets

Let’s start with the basics. A game of darts is called a “leg.” That’s just a fancy way of saying one complete round where players start at 501 points and try to be the first to reach exactly zero. The tricky part is that you have to finish by hitting a double, that’s the thin outer ring of the board. So if you have 40 points left, you need to hit double 20 to win. If you have 32 left, you need double 16. This is where things get really tense, because there’s nothing worse than being one dart away from victory only to miss your double and have to watch your opponent steal the leg from under you.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. In most professional matches, they don’t just play one leg and call it a day. They play multiple legs in something called a “best of” format. For example, a “best of 11 legs” match means the first player to win 6 legs is the winner. This gives players a chance to recover if they have a bad start, maybe they lost the first three legs but then found their rhythm and came back to win six. That’s why you’ll sometimes see players who seem down and out suddenly start playing like demons possessed.

But wait, there’s more! Some of the really big tournaments like the World Championship don’t just count legs, they use something called “sets.” A set is a group of legs, usually the best of five (meaning first to win three legs wins the set). Then the whole match is decided by who wins the most sets. So you might have a match that’s “best of five sets,” where the first player to win three sets wins the match. Each of those sets consists of multiple legs. It sounds complicated when you say it like that, but when you’re watching it all unfold, it actually makes perfect sense.

The reason they use this set format in big tournaments is that it creates these amazing momentum swings. A player might lose the first two legs in a set, then suddenly turn things around and win the next three to take the set. Or they might trade legs back and forth until it’s 2-2 and then there’s this incredible pressure on that final deciding leg. That’s when you see players at their absolute best or sometimes their absolute worst, when the pressure gets to them and they can’t hit the broad side of a barn with their darts.

Different tournaments use different formats. The World Championship uses sets all the way through, with early rounds being best of five sets, then moving up to best of seven, then nine, until the final which is this epic best of thirteen sets showdown. Other tournaments like the Premier League just use legs, no sets involved. There, they might play a best of eleven legs match in the early stages, then move up to best of nineteen in the semifinals and best of twenty-one in the final. It’s all about building the drama as the tournament progresses.

One of the most intense things in darts is what happens when a set goes to a deciding leg in the World Championship. If players are tied in the final set (say 2-2 in legs), they have to win by two clear legs. But if it gets to 5-5, then it goes to sudden death, one final leg where winner takes all. I’ve seen matches where this rule has created some of the most unbelievable moments in darts history. Players who looked completely finished suddenly find their form or players who were cruising suddenly can’t hit a double to save their life. The pressure is absolutely unreal and that’s what makes it so exciting to watch.

Understanding all this makes watching darts so much more enjoyable. When you know that a player needs to win three legs to take the set, or that they’re fighting to stay alive in a sudden-death leg, every dart becomes more meaningful. You start to see the strategy – maybe a player is conserving energy in some legs to go all-out in others, or they’re trying different checkout routes to keep their opponent guessing. The mental game becomes just as fascinating as the physical skill.

Now You See It, The Hidden Drama in Every Dart

Whether you’re watching the set-play drama of the World Championship or the leg-by-leg intensity of the Premier League, knowing these structures helps you appreciate what’s really going on. You’ll understand why the crowd goes quiet during certain throws, why players sometimes look absolutely devastated after missing one dart and why hitting that perfect nine-darter is such a monumental achievement.

So next time you’re watching darts with friends, you can be the one explaining what’s happening instead of nodding along pretending to understand. And who knows, maybe one day you’ll be the one hitting that perfect finish when it matters most. Until then, there’s always the pub league, where the only thing that matters is whether you can hit the board after four pints.

Darts fever, because why not practice more, aim higher and laugh louder!

Michael van Gerwen, The Green Machine: “Sets are where champions are made. You can be down in legs, but if you fight back and steal the set, you break your opponent’s spirit.”