After the success of a recent darts puzzle we have decided to give you another one.
We were sitting in The Jolly Quizmaster having a quiet drink after a hard day at the coalface writing quiz questions, when we noticed a young and attractive lady walk in. She walked to the bar and ordered a drink, and then (and this is what really attracted our attention) asked the barman who was the best dart player in the pub.
The barman indicated someone at the dartboard practising with friends, and said he was unbeaten in the local darts leagues for quite a few seasons - he is the best in here by some distance. We couldn't wait to see what happened next.
Well, what happened next was that she approached the champion darts player and challenged him to a game for £50. He and his friends looked incredulous and he told her not to waste her money.
She responded by saying that she was so confident that he could double all of his scores, and if he was too frightened to play she would find someone who would play her at darts. To reinforce the point she took a £50 note from her handbag and waved it under his nose.
The top darts player looked stunned, and clearly had no idea what to do. This sounded like easy money.
So, the question is, what should he do? What would you do if you were him?
There is an old adage that if something sounds to good to be true, it probably isn't going to be good - and the adage holds out here.
If you double every score you make then the score that is recorded must be an even number. And you will note that 501 is an odd number, so it is impossible to score 501 when you double your scores.
If the champion darts player takes up the challenge the young lady will take £50 off him, no matter how bad a darts player she is.