What Is a White Horse in Darts?

The world of darts is home to many colorful terms used by fans, players and commentators. Those who watch competitive darts on television may have heard phrases such as "bag of nails," "good arrows" and "the trombones." The darts variant "cricket," though it's not played as commonly or competitively as 501 darts, also has its own vernacular. One term that may confuse newcomers is a "white horse."

  1. Cricket Rules

    • Cricket is played with the numbers 15 through 20 and the bull's-eye on a standard dartboard. The object of the game is for each player to hit every number, and the bull's-eye, three times. Hitting the outer double ring for a number counts as hitting it twice, and hitting the inner treble ring counts as hitting it three times. When a player has hit the same number three times, or has hit doubles and trebles to equal three, the number is said to be "opened" and his opponent can no longer score off that number.

    Cricket Scoring

    • A player scores off numbers he has opened himself, either on that go or previous trips to the oche. For instance, if a player hits treble 20, treble 20 and single 16 on one go, he scores 60 points: He opens the 20 by hitting the treble (which counts as hitting it three times), scores 60 for hitting a treble 20 and scores nothing by hitting the 16 because it isn't closed yet. However, if he hits a single 16 twice, or a double 16, on his next go he will open the 16 and score off it. If an opposing player hits a closed number three times, the number is said to be "closed" and can no longer be scored off by either player. The player with the highest score after every number on the board is closed is declared the winner.

    White Horse

    • In cricket darts, a "white horse" is a slang term referring to when, in one go, a player hits three trebles on numbers that are closed and as such does not score off any of them. In some regions, the term refers to when a player hits trebles on three different numbers on one go without scoring. However, in other areas it can refer to a player hitting the same treble three times without scoring.

    Other Cricket Slang

    • As with standard darts, cricket has many slang terms and pieces of vernacular that may be confusing to a newcomer. A "straight nine" is the art of hitting a treble 20, treble 19 and a treble 18 on your first trip to the oche. A "Wilson" is when a player hits three darts in numbers below 15 during his trip to the oche. The "sixes" are a slang term for the 16s in a game of cricket. Similarly, the "fives," "sevens," "eights" and "nines" refer to the 15s, 17s, 18s and 19s respectively.