Shanghai rules: single, double and treble in one visit
Shanghai is seven rounds and one trapdoor. Round one is thrown at the one, round two at the two, and only that number scores — but land its single, its double and its treble in the same visit and you have won the game on the spot.
How it works
Each round has a number. Classically round one is the 1 and it runs up to the 7, so the whole game is seven visits each.
Only that round’s number scores, and it scores what it is worth: a single seven is 7, the double is 14, the treble is 21. Every other dart on the board is worth nothing.
After the last round the highest total wins — unless somebody has already hit a Shanghai.
The Shanghai
A Shanghai is the single, the double and the treble of the round’s number, all three in one visit, in any order. It ends the game immediately, whatever the scores were.
On the seven that is 7 + 14 + 21 = 42 points and a win. It is the reason nobody relaxes in a game they are forty points ahead in.
Which numbers you throw at
The classic range is 1 through 7. The full board, 1 through 20, makes it a twenty-round game and a genuine test.
A practice range — 16 through 20, or 10 through 15 — puts the whole session on the part of the board that matters, which is what makes Shanghai a training game rather than a novelty.
House rules this board plays
The part no other rules page has, because no other site implements them. Each one opens the setup screen with that rule already set.
- The full board Twenty rounds, one per number, 1 up to 20. The long version, and the one where the totals actually mean something. Set it up →
- A practice range, Shanghai in the last round only Rounds 16 through 20, and the instant win only counts in the final round — because a Shanghai on the twenty is cheap and ending the session three rounds early wastes the range. Set it up →
- No instant win at all The trapdoor closed: a Shanghai scores its 42 and nothing more, and the game is decided on the totals after the last round. Set it up →
- Dealt rounds The same numbers in an order nobody has practised: the range is shuffled once when the match starts, so the first round might be the seven and the one might come last. The scoring is unchanged and so is the ceiling — only the sequence is a surprise. Set it up →
- Finish on the bull One extra round after the range, thrown at the bull: 25 for the outer, 50 for the bull itself. It is where the routine really ends, and it is the one round no Shanghai can be thrown in — the board has no treble bull, so the trio is not a dart anybody can throw there. With the instant win held back to the last round, that means the last round at a number. Set it up →
- The middle of the board Rounds 10 through 15, for the numbers that are neither the scoring corner nor the ones you never throw at. Set it up →
Common questions
- What is a Shanghai in darts? The single, the double and the treble of the round's number, all three in one visit and in any order. It ends the game immediately, whatever the scores were.
- How many rounds is a game of Shanghai? Seven in the classic 1 to 7, one visit each per round. The full board is twenty rounds, and a practice range like 16 to 20 puts the whole session on the numbers that matter.
- Does only the round's number score? Yes, and it scores what it is worth: in round seven a single is 7, the double is 14 and the treble is 21. Every other dart on the board is worth nothing.
Play it
Shanghai is one of the twenty modes in Friendly Fire Casper, a free darts scoreboard that runs in a browser and keeps working when the wifi drops. It scores the game for you, undoes the dart you typed wrong, remembers who won, and can put the board on a TV while everybody scores from their own phone.