Under equal darts, he is allowed to throw darts sixteen, seventeen and eighteen to see if he can check out with them and win or tie the leg. If he hits a winning double with darts sixteen or seventeen, he wins . If he does it with dart eighteen, the leg is tied and has to be replayed. The Club and Institute Union introduced equal darts into its national individual and eights competitions in 1977. But the BDO and the NDA are less than enthusiastic.
Equal darts sounds terribly fair and British.
However, there are two main arguments against. The toss is one, wire darts are another, and an unlucky placing of a first dart, perhaps blocking the treble twenty, is a third. The other argument against equal darts is that it ruins the excitement on stage. The Wales player can still level out. What equal darts means, in fact, is that on many occasions the crowd is going to be cheering a player's failure to level out, that being the end of the match, rather than the positive act of the winning player hitting his double.