The introduction to the rule book says "'DARTABOUT' is a really good game and one which we feel sure will be universally popular. .. it has only five simple rules of play .. The object of the game is for each player to move his five men across the board from his own 'starts' and occupy the 'starts' of the player opposite to him, doing as much 'damage' to his opponents as is compatible with skilful play."
As with the same maker's Sorry!, pieces are moved via playing cards. Some ('straight') cards move a piece forwards so many squares, other ('bent') cards mean the piece must make a 90 degree turn as part of its move. Three special cards exist: '69' can be treated either as a straight six or a bent nine; '8' allow two pieces to be moved a combined total of eight spaces forward; and '1' allows a piece to move one square forwards or sideways. Opposing pieces not on safety square which are landed on are 'bumped' off onto an unfavourable start square.
The main game involves dealing out the deck between the players who can then pick which card to play each turn. If the game has not finished, the discards are shuffled and dealt again. A version for children involves picking cards at random to play each turn.