Are you wanting to get a game of cornhole going but you’re not 100% sure how the rules work? The good news is that cornhole is an extremely easy game to learn how to play and just about anyone should be able to pick it up in a matter of minutes. Here’s a quick guide on how to how to play cornhole based on ACO guidelines.
What you need to play cornhole
To play cornhole you’ll need:
- Two cornhole boards
- Eight bean bags
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Cornhole boards
A regulation ACO certified cornhole board is 2 feet by 4 feet and comes with a hole that is 6 inches in diameter. The diagram below shows that it should look like.
Some people play with boards that are 2 feet by 3 feet since these smaller boards are often easier to bring around to tailgating events and parties.
Bean bags
Regulation ACO certified bean bags are 6 inches by 6 inches and should weigh between 15 and 16 ounces. You need eight bean bags in order to play the correct ACO way.
Most people choose from either corn-filled bean bags or bean bags filled with plastic resin pellets. There are pros and cons to each different type of filling.
If you don’t want to worry about your bean bags rotting or getting filled with critters, you may want to just go with plastic resin pellets, usually called “weatherproof bags.” You can find these on Amazon.
Set up your cornhole court
A regulation cornhole court will look like the diagram below, where the boards are 27 feet apart, measured from edge to edge.
If you’re just playing tailgate or backyard cornhole, you don’t need to go all out with the court and if you don’t have that much room you can place the boards 24 feet apart. Lines for kids will usually be 21 feet from the edge of the board.
Regardless of how big or small your cornhole court is, I recommend that you try to find a level playing field. Try to keep the boards as level as possible and try to keep dogs and other pets away because they love to get in on the action.
How to play cornhole
1 on 1 cornhole
1 on 1 cornhole is very simple.
You’ll have each of the two players standing in pitchers boxes next to each other at the headboard. The headboard is the term used to describe the cornhole board where the players are standing and the footboard is the cornhole board that they will be throwing their bags towards.
The players will alternate pitches until each player has thrown all four of their bags.
After all of the bags are thrown, the score is calculated (more on that below) and then the players will walk down to the other cornhole board and repeat the process. The player with the higher score will throw first and they will resume tossing their four bags.
Each player will remain in their own lane throughout the entire game.
You might meet people who play a different way where the players throw from opposing sides. This is not the official way to play and I don’t care for it because it completely eliminates the need for strategy in the game since you can’t block the hole or push their bags off the board.
2 on 2 cornhole
In 2 on 2 play, each team remains in their lane the entire game and the play is very similar to the 1 on 1. Each player alternates making their pitches until each player has thrown all four of their bags.
The main difference is that the players never walk down to the other board since the those boards are already occupied. So the players on the opposing side simply pick up the bags after the score is taken and then resume making their pitches toward the other side.
Once again, the team that score the most in that inning will go first the next inning. If neither player/team scores, the player/team who pitched first in the preceding frame shall retain first pitch in the next frame.
How to score cornhole
You score points in cornhole depending on where on the board your bean bag lands.
Here are the different ways to score points in cornhole:
- Cornhole (3 points) — when the bean bags passes entirely through the cornhole
- Woodie (1 point) — when the bean bag lands on the playing surface of the cornhole board
- Foul (0 points) — any bean bags that is not a woody or a cornhole
The standard way to keep score for cornhole is to use the cancellation method which I’ll explain below.
The cancellation method means that at most only one player or team will earn points each inning (or match).
Simply count up the points earned by each team and then cancel out the points. Only the team with points remaining will earn points for that match.
Here’s an example to illustrate:
- Team A has 2 corn holes and one woody so they totaled 7 points for that inning.
- Team B has 3 corn holes and two woodies so they totaled 11 points for that earning.
You’ll then cancel out the 11 points by the 7 points so that Team B walks away with 4 points and Team A walks away with 0 points.
Each game will last until one team has reached or exceeded 21.
Note that some people play that you have to score exactly 21 so there are a few different ways to determine the winner. You can read more about cornhole scoring here.
How to toss a cornhole bag
As you play more cornhole and watch others play as well, you’ll notice that there are many different ways to toss a cornhole bean bag.
Generally, you want to try to swing your throwing arm in a nice fluid motion and then release the bean bag with a flick of your wrist so that the bean bag spins like a frisbee through the air. This cuts down on allowing the wind to affect your shot and allows the bag to slide on the cornhole board (hopefully right through the cornhole).
Sometimes you’ll want to adjust your technique depending on what you’re trying to accomplish with your pitch. For example, sometimes you may want to block the hole to prevent the other team from scoring and other times you may want to push their bags right off the board.
I discuss the different techniques for these shots in this article here if you’d like to read more about how to toss a cornhole bag.
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Check out my #1 recommendation for a quality cornhole board set that is perfect for beginners.
Drinking games
Cornhole is the perfect game to play at parties and tailgates so naturally it sort of a drinking game in its own right. But there are a few variations that you can put into a game of cornhole to make it a true drinking game like forcing someone to chug when they hit too many fouls. If you want to read about some fun cornhole drinking games then click here.
Cornhole rules
I’ll have an entire post dedicated to cornhole rules but there are some basic rules that you’ll want to be aware of:
- Foul line — the foul line is an imaginary line that runs in front of the cornhole boards. You are not allowed to step in front of this line and if you do your bag is considered a foul bag worth zero points
- Foul bags affect game play — If a bag hits the ground or any object before landing on the cornhole board and it affects the position of the bean bags, you can move the bags back to their original position or simply leave it be.
- Foul bag on playing surface — If a foul bag lands on the playing surface or comes to rest touching the ground and the board, it must be removed immediately.
- Accidental release: If a bag slips out of your hand when the final forward swing of the delivery process has started, that shall count as a pitched bag.
- 15 second rule — you’re supposed to pitch your bag within 15 seconds or else it is considered a foul.
- 30 second rule — In Singles play, once the final bag comes to a rest, each player has 30 seconds to walk to the other end, pick up their bags, and ready themselves to pitch.
Technically, you’re not supposed to heckle any of your opponents but when it comes to backyard play and tailgating you’ll probably have to deal with some of that so my advice is to get used to it, though try not to go overboard with the heckling shenanigans.
Final word on how to play cornhole
As you can see, it’s actually not very difficult to figure out how to play cornhole. You simply need the boards and the beanbags and a little bit of common sense, and you’ve got enough to get a game going.
Cover photo by Michael Patterson