Killer Darts
Hit your own double to become a killer, then take everyone else's lives. Last one standing wins.
Players
Computer players
Computer level
Lives
Become a killer
Hits that count
Own number costs a life
A killer who hits their own number loses lives
How it works
- Everyone gets their own number from 1 to 20.
- Hit your own double to become a killer.
- Killers take lives by hitting other players' doubles. Last one standing wins.
About Killer
Killer is the pub game for a crowd. Everyone gets their own number, and the aim is simple: be the last player with any lives left. It works with two players and gets better with more, which is why it is a favourite for a group round a single board.
Play with up to eight people passing the phone, add computer players to fill the seats, or take on a table of computers on your own. The scorer deals the numbers, counts the lives and keeps track of who is a killer, so nobody has to stand at a chalkboard.
How to Play
Each player is dealt a different number from 1 to 20. In the pub you would throw for it with your weaker hand; here the numbers are drawn at random, and you can draw them again before the first dart. Everyone starts with three lives.
Your first job is to hit the double of your own number. That makes you a killer. Until then, darts at other players' numbers do nothing. Once you are a killer, every time you hit an opponent's double they lose a life, and at zero they are out. Be careful: hit your own double as a killer and it costs you a life, so you can knock yourself out. The last player with lives left wins.
To score a dart, tap the card of the player whose double you hit, or tap Miss for anything else. Undo steps back one dart, and against computer players it also takes back their turns.
House Rules You Can Choose
- Lives: three is the usual game, five makes it last longer.
- Become a killer: one hit on your own double, or three for stronger players.
- Hits that count: doubles only, or the whole number, where a single takes one life, a double two and a treble three. Whole-number games are over quickly.
- Own number costs a life: on by default, but some pubs play without it.
Tips for Killer
- Get your double early: until you are a killer you are a sitting target with no way to hit back.
- Pick off the weakest: a player down to their last life is the quickest knockout, and one fewer opponent aiming at you.
- Watch your neighbours: if your number sits next to an opponent's on the board, a stray dart at theirs can land on your own double.
Related Games and Guides
- Cricket: the other great pub game, against the computer or a friend
- Bob's 27: sharpen the doubles Killer is won on
- Darts Scorer: keep score for 501 or 301 with up to four players
- How to hit doubles: technique for the ring that decides Killer