Cornhole is one of the funnest tailgating and party games to play outdoors (or sometimes even outdoors) but you need to know how far apart should cornhole boards be in order to set up the game correctly so that it’s not too hard or too easy. Here’s what you need to know about the distance between cornhole platforms.
Cornhole court basics
First, it’s a good idea to have a basic understanding about cornhole courts.
If you don’t know much about cornhole, you may not even know that there are official standards for the cornhole court!
Note that when I say official I’m referring to the standards issued by the ACO (the American Cornhole Organization). You can dig more deeply into their rule book here.
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What’s a cornhole court?
It sounds like a derogatory phrase for a courthouse, but a cornhole court is the entire surrounding area that comprises the cornhole boards and pitch boxes. You can read my detailed article on cornhole courts here.
A regulation size cornhole court is 8 feet wide and 45 feet long and should have a vertical clearance of at least twelve feet high. So if you’re setting something up indoors, ideally you would have a ceiling at least a dozen feet high but I think it’s definitely possible to play with a standard ceiling height if you can’t play outdoors.
But that’s the official guidelines.
If you’re just playing in the backyard, you can take a good long nine paces and that should be about 27 feet give or take. Just try to find a level area with no obstacles in the way of your tossing lanes. Nobody is going to care that you don’t have an official 8 X 45 foot court set up per ACO guidelines.
It’s also worth noting that for casual play some people do prefer to put the bag toss boards about 24 feet away. So if you’re and your squad are struggling or you’re cramped for room, maybe you should go the 24 feet route.
Pitchers boxes
The court will have four pitchers boxes which are 4’ x 3’ areas at each end of the court and on both sides of each cornhole board much like the batters boxes in base ball.
There are two pitchers boxers in each lane and players will stay in their same lane throughout the game, though they will switch sides.
How far apart should cornhole boards be?
Cornhole boards (or bean bag boards) should be 27 feet from the front edge to front edge of the board.
They are also measured by the distance from one cornhole to another. The front of the hole on one cornhole board should be 33 feet away from the front of the hole on the other board.
Because that second measuring method requires you to measure the distance between the holes (that are not on ground level) I think it’s just easier to measure them from front edge to front edge.
Pro tip: You can measure out 27 feet on a string then rig a set up where you can just hook the string to the inside of the cornhole board so that you don’t always have to keep a tape measure on you. Or you could even build a tape measure into your board. Check out these ideas on Pinterest to see what I’m talking about.
Where is the cornhole foul line?
The foul line is an imaginary line that runs in front of the cornhole board and pitcher’s box.
You need to have at least one foot or appendage completely inside the pitcher’s box at the time of release or else that will be a foul.
Please don’t try to get creative and throw your bean bags while looking like a spider monkey just to get a couple of feet closer. It’s not going to help and it’s not very difficult to remain behind the foul line for most people by just going with a natural toss motion.
How far apart should cornhole boards be for kids?
Things are a little bit different when you’re talking about juniors.
The foul line for junior-level players is only 21 feet away from the end edge of the other cornhole board. So a junior can essentially step six feet ahead of the regulation foul line so that they are only 21 feet from the edge of the board.
And in case you were wondering, there’s an entire junior league with player rankings and everything, so it’s never too early to say yes to cornhole.
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How far apart should multiple cornhole boards be?
If you have multiple cornhole boards in your cornhole court, then you want at least ten feet between those cornhole boards, although many prefer to have at least twelve feet between.
This is done in order to minimize the distraction to each player. It’s similar to how it’s not very good bowling etiquette to bowl when someone is on the approach in the lane right next to you. By providing enough distance between the cornhole boards, you won’t have to worry about anybody messing you up (or your opponent using this as an excuse).
How big should the bean bags be?
The regulation size bean bags are 6″ by 6″ and should weigh between 15 and 16 ounces. Some people do choose to play with bags that are either smaller or larger than those dimensions, though.
You can read more about the size of different cornhole bags here.
Where can I find ACO boards and bags?
You can find regulation ACO boards and ACO bags on Amazon. But you can also find them at many sports and outdoors stores.
Final word on how far apart should cornhole boards be
So in conclusion, just how far apart should cornhole boards be?
I suggest to just try to keep it simple and keep your boards 27 feet apart and if you have a junior with you, let them step up six feet. You can get scientific by busting out the tape measure (or having boards equipped with tape measures or strings), but just pacing about 27 feet is going to be okay for anything nonofficial.
Cover photo by Nathan Rupert vis Flickr.