The game of Cornhole is played with two wooden boards with holes cut on the upper quarter sections of them and placed at a set distance from each other. The game is played by standing at the opposite end of the field of play (adjacent to one board) and throwing your four bags at the other board in a back and forth succession with the other player. The game can be played with two players or two teams of two. If the game consists of two teams of two, opposing players stand at one of the of field and teammates face each other at opposite ends of the field. Throwing a bag and having it land in the hole on the opposite board counts as 3 points and having it land on the face of the board counts as 1 point. The back and forth succession in which each player throws their 4 bags each is called a round or inning. The bags must land in the hole or hit the surface of the board on the fly; as if a bag touches the ground before it makes contact with the board it is removed from play for that particular round/inning. The first player to score either 21 points or over 21 points wins the game.
The American Cornhole Association (ACA) states that an official game consists of the boards being 27 feet from front to front or 33 feet from fronts of the corresponding holes. Besides each board is an imaginary box about the length and width of the Cornhole boards themselves. This box is known as the Pitchers Box, and players must throw their bags while standing in this box for the throw to count. A Juniors Line can be placed at 21 feet from the holes outward onto the field of play, to create fair games for children.
Image from playcornhole.org
The object of the game is to score either 21 points or over 21 points. Scoring is accomplished by throwing a bag into the corresponding hole (3 points) or having the bag land on the face of the corresponding board (1 point). When two players are playing, the bags are thrown in a back and forth succession until all bags are thrown. The players then move toward the opposite end of the field to resume play. If two teams of two are playing, players stand in the Pitchers Box they started the game in for the remainder of the game. Scoring is calculated by correlating each teams bags against the others. If the blue team (represented by blue bags) throws and has all 4 bags land on the surface of the board and the red team (represented by red bags) throws all 4 bags and only 3 lands on the surface of the board, the blue team scores 1 point for that round/inning. If the blue team throws all 4 bags and one lands in the hole and one lands on the surface of the board (resulting in 4 points) and the red team throws all 4 bags and two go in the hole and the other two land on the surface of the board (resulting in 8 points) the red team scores 4 points that round/inning. The winner of the previous round/inning throws first in the next round/inning.
In this example, the blue team has scored 1 point.
In this example, the blue team has scored 2 points.
In this example, the red team has scored 3 points.
Minnesota Rules change the game in both the field of play and scoring. In this version of the game, the boards are set 10 paces or about 20 feet from corresponding holes. This allows quicker and higher scoring rounds/innings. In this version of the game, the bag may touch the ground and land on the board and the bag will still count. Scoring is also different in this version of the game as well. Instead of scoring over 21 points, a player or team must score EXACTLY 21 points. If a team has 19 points and they score 3 points by getting a bag in the hole, the round/inning stops and the bags are tansfered to the other end of the field. The team who went over 21 points goes back down to 16 and they throw first in the next round/inning.
Skunk Rules are set into play when a designated score is reach by one player or team, and the other player or team has not scored. This usually plays into effect when the score reaches 11-0.
This version of the game is played exactly like a standard game of Cornhole, except bags are taken away from play if they do not hit the hole or board on the fly. If a bag is thrown and hits the board and roles off, the bag is kept in play for the game. If a bag is thrown and hits the ground, the bag is taken out of play for the entire game.
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