How to Play

Each player starts every leg on 501, with their own independent score. One statistical category applies for the whole leg, and players alternate normal turns. One submitted AFL player equals one dart, and each player gets a maximum of 10 normal darts per leg — every submission consumes a dart, including busts.

The starting player alternates between legs. In a Best of 1 match the host chooses the category; in a Best of 3 match, whoever doesn’t start the leg chooses it. A category can’t be repeated within the same match.

Every answer is one AFL player. Search shows names, relevant clubs and career years — never the hidden statistic, its legality, or its likely score. The statistic stays hidden until you lock in your answer, and your opponent can’t see your search or selection before you submit.

A submitted player is used immediately and can’t be picked again for the rest of the leg, including in a Bullseye Round. Used players reset at the start of the next leg. Players with a zero stat in the category aren’t eligible — but anyone with a stat of at least one is selectable, even if it will bust.

After you lock in an answer, the server reveals the player’s fixed statistic for that category. It’s a legal score — and gets subtracted from your total — when it’s 180 or lower, it’s a possible three-dart total, and subtracting it doesn’t take your score below -10.

A normal turn busts when the statistic:

• exceeds 180,
• is one of the impossible three-dart totals above, or
• would take your score below -10.

On a bust: your score stays the same, the submitted player stays used, the dart is still consumed, and the turn passes to your opponent (unless normal play has already ended). The result always shows the revealed statistic and the specific reason for the bust.

You check out by landing your score from 0 to -10 inclusive — 0 is the best finish, then -1, -2, and so on down to -10. Landing exactly on zero is a Bullseye finish, which gets special visual treatment but still just counts as one leg win.

When the first player checks out, their opponent gets exactly one final normal dart — provided they haven’t already used all 10 — with the usual answer and bust rules still applying. The checkout stays provisional until this response resolves.

Once it’s resolved:

• If only one player checked out, they win the leg.
• If both checked out, whoever’s closer to zero wins.
• If both checked out on the same score, it goes to a Bullseye Round.

Each player gets a maximum of 10 normal answers per leg, and the interface always shows darts used and remaining for both players. If one player has used all 10 while the other has used 9, the player on 9 still gets their tenth and final dart before the leg is assessed. Normal play never accepts an eleventh dart — if there’s still no winner after both players have used all 10, the leg goes to a Bullseye Round.

The Bullseye Round is a sealed, simultaneous tiebreaker. It triggers when both players finish normal play on the same checkout score (including both on zero), or when both have used all 10 darts with no winner decided.

Both players privately pick one unused, eligible player from the same category — normal-play and earlier Bullseye Round picks stay off-limits. Neither player sees the other’s search, pick, or statistic until both have locked in; after one player locks in, the interface shows a waiting state without revealing anything. Once both lock in, both players and statistics reveal together.

Each statistic’s distance from 50 decides the round — distance = absolute value of (statistic − 50) — and the smaller distance wins the leg. Exactly 50 is the best possible result. Normal dart legality doesn’t apply here: values above 180 and impossible three-dart totals are both valid, and current 501 scores don’t change. If both distances are equal, it repeats with a fresh sealed round of new, unused players — as many times as it takes for one player to have a smaller distance.

Every category counts statistics from the start of the 1990 AFL season onward, across senior men’s AFL home-and-away matches and finals only. Preseason matches, reserves, state leagues, representative matches, AFLW, and anything before 1990 are excluded.

The 18 current AFL clubs are supported. Footscray and Western Bulldogs are treated as one continuing club identity; other historical clubs such as Fitzroy and Brisbane Bears aren’t separate categories.

Footy 501 launches with 39 categories:

• 18 club-specific games categories (total qualifying games per club, 1990 onward)
• 18 club-specific goals categories (total qualifying goals per club, 1990 onward)
• 3 competition-wide categories: AFL Career Games, AFL Career Goals, and Career Brownlow Votes

One category applies for the whole leg, and it can’t repeat within a match.

A few of the scoreboard pieces you’ll see mid-match, shown here with sample data: