Cornhole bag specifications
A regulation cornhole bag is 6 inches square and weighs between 15.5 and 16.5 ounces, which is close enough to one pound that most people call it that. It is filled with plastic resin beads rather than the whole corn the game is named after, and each player pitches four bags per frame. The exact tolerances differ slightly between the two governing bodies, and the table below gives both.
Bag specification
A regulation bag is 6 inches square and weighs approximately one pound. The ACO’s permitted weight window is tighter than the ACL’s and sits entirely inside it, so an ACO-legal bag is always ACL-legal.
| Specification | ACL | ACO |
|---|---|---|
| Size, laid flat | 6 x 6 in ±1/4 in | 5.75 – 8.25 in across |
| Weight | 15.5 – 16.5 oz | 15.75 – 16.25 oz (447 – 461 g) |
| Thickness, laid flat | 1.1 – 1.5 in | 1.125 – 1.5 in |
| Fill | Not specified | Plastic resin beads that will not break down |
| Bags per player, per frame | 4 | 4 |
The fill requirement is the one worth acting on. The ACO specifies plastic resin beads that will not break down, and the reason is practical rather than bureaucratic: whole corn, the original fill and the source of the game’s name, rots, attracts vermin, absorbs moisture and changes weight as it does. A corn-filled bag that has spent a summer in a shed no longer weighs what it did. Every serious bag sold today is resin filled.
Competition bags are commonly made with two different fabrics, a faster side and a slower one, so a player can choose whether a bag slides toward the hole or grips where it lands. Neither rule book requires or even mentions this. The ACL specifies dimensions, weight, thickness and approved materials only, so treat it as manufacturing practice rather than regulation. It makes no difference to a backyard game.
Bag questions
What size are cornhole bags?
- Six inches square, laid flat. The ACL allows a quarter-inch either way; the ACO states a wider range of 5.75 to 8.25 inches across. A bag cut to 6 by 6 inches is legal under both.
How much do cornhole bags weigh?
- Between 15.5 and 16.5 ounces under ACL rules, and between 15.75 and 16.25 ounces under ACO rules. The ACO window sits entirely inside the ACL window, so a bag built to ACO weight is legal under either body.
What are cornhole bags filled with?
- Plastic resin beads. The ACO specifies a fill that will not break down, which rules out the whole corn the game is named after: corn rots, draws vermin, takes on moisture and changes weight as it does. Every serious bag sold today is resin filled.
How many cornhole bags do you need?
- Eight, in two sets of four. Each player pitches four bags per frame, and the two sets have to be visually distinguishable from each other.
Why do cornhole bags have two different sides?
- So a player can choose whether the bag slides or grips. Competition bags are commonly made from two fabrics, a faster side and a slower one. Neither rule book requires it or even mentions it, so it is manufacturing practice rather than regulation, and it makes no difference to a backyard game.