Start with a clear forty remaining
Imagine a player begins a visit needing forty. A first dart in single twenty leaves twenty. If the next dart scores nineteen, the remainder would be one, which cannot be finished with a double. Under the current DRA bust rule, that visit does not bank the earlier twenty: the remaining score returns to forty.
Exactly zero can still be the wrong finish
Take the same forty starting remainder. Two single twenties would add to forty, but the last dart is not the required double. That is a different route to a bust, not a completed leg. A direct double twenty, by contrast, supplies forty with the correct finishing segment and wins the standard double-out leg.
Overshooting is another bust case
If the visit scores more than the number remaining, the leg is not allowed to continue into a negative balance. The visit ends and the starting remainder is restored. These examples explain why the scoreboard can appear to undo earlier valid-looking hits. They are arithmetic illustrations of the rule, not a claim about an actual player’s intentions or a particular broadcast incident.
Do not give a busted visit another dart
The DRA defines a visit as complete when the player busts, even if fewer than three darts have been thrown. It is therefore incorrect to expect the player to use a remaining dart to repair the score. The next player’s turn follows the ended visit; the original player does not retain a correction throw within it.
Check the event’s specified format
The rulebook states a default and permits an event to specify a different playing format. Establish that the match uses ordinary double-out 501 before applying these examples to a different darts game. Keep the distinction between the current leg and the match’s legs-or-sets target: a bust changes the immediate scoring visit, not a previously completed leg.
Questions, answered
What happens to the first single twenty in the forty-then-nineteen example?
It is not retained separately. The bust cancels the visit’s score, returning the player to the forty remaining at its start.
Can the third dart repair a bust made with the second?
No. A bust ends the visit, so an unused dart is not a repair opportunity.