Cornhole Rules

Cornhole Rules - Overview

The cornhole game has thousands of variations of rules, but here I will list the most common cornhole rules that are in use, from my experience. Basically you need 4 people (2 people on each team) to play a standard game of cornhole. Two players stand at each cornhole board. One one side each player throws one bag at a time and they alternate until all 8 bags are thrown. The 2 players at the other end help to keep score according to the cornhole rules. The game is played until until one team scores 21 points.

Cornhole Rules - Game Setup

The cornhole boards are laid out so there is a distance of 30 feet between the cornhole circles, or 24 feet from the front of the boards. One player from each team stands to the side, also known as the pitcher’s box, of the cornhole board. The other teammate must stand at the other board on the opposite side of their teammate. See the sketch below.

Cornhole Rules – Game Play

You decide who gets to throw first, for the first throw of the game. That player throws only one bag and the player on the other team, on the same side as the player who just threw the bag, throws a bag. While throwing you must not step past the front of the board that is considered a foul and the point/throw does not count and there are no mulligans. If the bag bounces off of the ground and lands on the board then that bag does not count.

The object is to get more bags on the board or in the hole than the other team. You CAN knock off the other team’s bags.

When all bags are at the other cornhole board (4 bags for each player) the points are tallied and the teammate of the player who scored that turn gets to throw first. This continues until one team scores 21 or more.

Cornhole Rules – Scoring

Each bag on the board scores 1 point.

Each bag in the hole scores 3 points.

Example – If Team A has 2 bags in the hole and one on the board that is a total of 7 points. However, Team B has 3 bags in the hole for a total of 9 points. Team B wins that round with 2 points scored.

Cornhole Rules – Variations

• After both players on each team throw their bags , the players on the same side of the cornhole board switch sides.
• Play skunk. If one team scores 11 and the other team still has yet to score then the game is consideres a "skunk" game.
• Two person play, basically you spend a lot of time walking back and forth between the boards.