Archery Scoring Explained: How Points, Rings, and Target Faces Work

You’ve picked up a bow, sent a few arrows downrange, and now you’re staring at a target covered in coloured rings wondering: how does archery scoring actually work? Whether you’re stepping onto the range for the first time at OnPoint Archery in Scarborough or you’re curious about how competitions are judged, this guide breaks down everything from the 10-ring to the X — no confusing jargon required.

How a Standard Archery Target Face Is Laid Out

Every target face you’ll encounter at an indoor range like OnPoint Archery follows the same basic structure — five colours arranged in concentric rings, each divided into two scoring zones. If you’ve ever seen a dartboard, the concept is similar: the closer your arrow lands to the centre, the higher your score.

The standard World Archery 10-ring target has, as the name suggests, ten scoring rings. Starting from the centre and working outward:

The inner gold rings — ring 10 (the dead centre, often marked with a small “X”) and ring 9 — are worth 10 and 9 points. The outer gold rings are rings 8 and 7. Then come the red rings (6 and 5), the blue rings (4 and 3), and finally the black and white outer rings (2 and 1). If your arrow lands completely outside all ten rings — it’s a miss, worth zero points.

At OnPoint Archery, our beginner lanes use 60 cm or 80 cm target faces at 10 to 20 yards, which gives new archers a generous scoring surface. As you progress through our lesson packages, you’ll move to smaller 40 cm faces — the same size used in Olympic competition — and the rings tighten up considerably.

How Scoring Works During a Session

During a typical one-hour session at OnPoint, you’ll shoot in groups of three or six arrows — called an “end.” After each end, you walk up to the target (or pull it toward you on the motorized retrieval system), mark down your scores, and pull your arrows. This walk-up-and-score rhythm is part of what makes archery so satisfying — you get immediate feedback on every single shot.

If you’re shooting a recurve bow, scoring is straightforward: read the highest ring the arrow shaft touches. Even if the arrow barely clips the line, you get the higher value. This is called the “line-cutter” rule and it’s one of the first things our NCCP-certified coaches teach during beginner sessions. With a compound bow, the same rule applies, but your tighter groupings mean those line-cutter calls happen more often — which is why competition compound archers use magnifying scopes to verify close calls.

Different Scoring Systems: Indoor, Outdoor, and 3D

Not all archery uses the same scoring setup. Here’s a quick breakdown of the three most common formats you’ll hear about:

Indoor target archery — This is what you’ll experience at OnPoint Archery. You shoot at a 10-ring face from 18 to 20 yards. In the standard “Vegas” round, a perfect score is 300 points (30 arrows × 10 points each). Indoor is perfect for Toronto winters because weather is never a factor.

Outdoor target archery — Distances stretch from 30 to 90 metres. The target face is larger (122 cm) but the 10-ring is proportionally smaller. Wind, light, and distance add a whole new layer of challenge that indoor archers don’t face until they step outside.

3D archery — Instead of flat target faces, you shoot at foam animal targets placed along a wooded course. Scoring is completely different: vital-organ zones score highest (typically 10 or 11 points), body hits score less, and a miss is, well, a miss. It’s a hunting-simulation sport that’s growing fast in Ontario.

How to Score Your First End in 4 Steps

1. Wait for the range to go coldWhen your coach calls “clear,” all bows go on the rack. No one touches equipment while archers are downrange.
2. Check each arrow from highest to lowest ringStart with the arrow closest to centre. If it’s in the 9-ring but touching the 10-ring line, you score a 10. Mark it down.
3. Add up all six arrowsA solid beginner end might be 7+6+8+5+9+6 = 41 points. Write the total, then pull your arrows — always twist and pull straight back.
4. Track your progressOver a few sessions, your end totals will climb. Going from 30-point ends to 45-point ends usually takes 3-4 sessions with consistent practice.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do the colours on an archery target mean?

The colours — gold, red, blue, black, and white — indicate scoring zones. Gold is the highest-value area (10 and 9 points), and white is the lowest (2 and 1 points). The colour bands make it easy to read your score from a distance without walking up to the target every time.

How many points is a bullseye worth in archery?

A bullseye — the innermost 10-ring — is worth 10 points. The tiny X inside it is only used as a tiebreaker in competitions and doesn’t add extra points. A perfect shot that hits the X still scores 10.

Do you count arrows that touch the line?

Yes — this is called the “line-cutter” rule. If any part of the arrow shaft touches the line of a higher-scoring ring, you get the higher score. Coaches and competition judges verify close calls by looking straight down at the arrow from above.

What’s the difference between compound and recurve scoring?

The scoring rules are identical — both use the 10-ring system. The practical difference is that compound bows are more accurate, so compound archers tend to cluster arrows in the gold rings much more tightly. In high-level competition, compound archers shoot at a smaller 10-ring to separate the top scores.

About the Author
Coach Taylor is a Precision Sports Instructor at OnPoint Archery in Scarborough, Toronto, with years of experience coaching both recurve and compound archers. A competitive archer with deep knowledge of scoring systems across indoor, outdoor, and 3D formats, Coach Taylor believes that understanding the numbers behind the shot is the fastest way to improve — because what you measure, you master.