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Matchmaking

Matchmaking pairs you automatically with an opponent close to your skill level. Reach it either by selecting Online in the top navigation, or the Find an opponent-style tile in the Quickplay row on the Home page (labeled "Matched by skill level").

Currently 501 only

Matchmaking is currently limited to 501, Straight In, Double Out — you start from 501 and can begin scoring with any dart (Straight In), but your last dart must land in a double ring or the bullseye to finish (Double Out). The only choices you get are match length and referee — that will likely expand over time.

Starting a match

Opening Matchmaking shows the Quick Match panel:

Quick Match panel with Match Legs (Best of 3 / Best of 5), Referee (Off / Enabled), and a board picked in Scoring, showing a green checkmark and an enabled blue Find Match buttonPersonal data redacted
The Quick Match panel with a board picked — the green checkmark confirms it, and Find Match lights up blue.
  • Match Legs — Best of 3 or Best of 5. A leg is a single game down to zero; win enough legs and you win the match.
  • Referee — Off or Enabled, same as the X01 Referee setting. When enabled, Autodarts' AI reviews and can correct detected darts during the match; when off, there's simply no referee.
  • Scoring — which board to play on, same board picker as a custom lobby.
The referee reviews on request — except checkouts

With Referee Enabled, manual score entry is turned off completely for that match. It doesn't watch every dart on its own, though — either player calls it in using the robot button on the score row, and the call reviews every dart thrown so far that turn. The one exception is a checkout dart: any dart that would bring a player's score to exactly zero gets reviewed automatically, no call needed, since a wrong call there would wrongly decide the leg.

Score row showing three detected darts (S5, S5, S5) and a running total of 15, with a robot-icon button on the right showing a 'Call referee' tooltip
The robot button on the score row calls in the AI referee — called here, it would review all three darts of the turn.

If you disagree with its ruling, you can challenge it, but the challenge only overturns the call if your opponent confirms the same correction; if they don't (or don't respond), the referee's original call stands. (The same robot button also shows up for Autodarts Plus members in matches with Referee off — there it's just a quick one-tap auto-correct with no challenge involved, since you can fix the score yourself if it gets something wrong.)

Until a board is actually picked in Scoring, it's shown without the green checkmark and Find Match stays disabled:

Quick Match panel with a board listed in Scoring but not yet picked — no checkmark, and a greyed-out disabled Find Match buttonPersonal data redacted
A board is listed but not yet picked — Find Match stays disabled until you select it.

If no Autoscoring board on your account is online, Scoring shows an error message instead of a picker, and Find Match stays disabled until one is:

Quick Match panel with Scoring showing 'No Autoscoring devices found. Please ensure they're plugged in and within range.' and a disabled Find Match buttonPersonal data redacted
No board online — Scoring reports it can't find one, and Find Match is disabled until it does.

Selecting Find Match adds you to the queue — a waiting list that looks for a suitable opponent — and shows a Finding an opponent banner with a running timer at the top of the screen:

Home page with a 'Finding an opponent' banner and timer at the top while queued for matchmakingPersonal data redacted
Queued for a match — the banner's timer counts up, and the X on its right lets you leave the queue.

Matchmaking tries to find an opponent within your skill range; the longer you stay queued, the wider that range gradually becomes. You can leave the queue at any time by clicking the X on the right of the banner.

Accepting a match

Once an opponent is found, you must actively confirm you'll join:

Match Found dialog showing both players' Not Ready status, with Decline and Mark Ready buttonsPersonal data redacted
Match Found — both players start as Not Ready. Decline shows a countdown before it locks in as a forfeit.
Not responding counts as declining

If you don't respond, or you decline, that counts as the same offense and carries a penalty (see below) — the system is designed to discourage queuing up when you don't actually intend to play, since that wastes another player's time.

Match & turn timers

Once a matchmaking match starts, two clocks keep it moving:

  • A match timer — 30 minutes per player for the whole match.
  • A turn timer — 3 minutes per turn.

If either clock runs out, that player automatically forfeits. This keeps matches from being artificially dragged out — if you don't have time to focus on a match, matchmaking isn't the mode to queue for.

In-match view with timer bars under each player's card: a blue match-timer bar along the bottom, and a white turn-timer bar along the top of the active player's cardPersonal data redacted
Timer bars under each player's card: bottom (blue) is the match timer, top (white, active player only) is the turn timer.

A warning banner also appears once a timer reaches a critically low level.

Leaving a match early

Surrendering mid-match in a matchmaking game is treated the same way as declining an invite: it's penalized, for the same reason — it wastes the time your opponent already committed to the match.

Penalties

Two separate offenses are tracked, each on its own rolling 24-hour window:

  • Declining or not responding to a match invite.
  • Abandoning (surrendering) a match in progress.

Each offense type escalates through its own fixed set of matchmaking lockout tiers. Your first offense in a 24-hour window gets the shortest lockout; each additional offense inside that same window bumps you to the next tier up. If 24 hours pass without another offense, the count resets and the next offense starts back at tier one.

Offense1st2nd3rd4th
Decline / no response5 min15 min1 hour24 hours
Abandon mid-match15 min2 hours24 hours

Abandoning starts at a harsher tier than declining, since an opponent has already invested real time into the match by that point. While a penalty is active, the Quick Match panel shows the lockout and disables queuing until it expires:

Quick Match panel showing a red 'Penalty active - try again in 7:54' message above the disabled Find Match buttonPersonal data redacted
An active penalty disables Find Match and shows a live countdown until the lockout expires.