# Cornhole Setup — full content > Cornhole is a lawn game in which two players or two teams take turns pitching four 16-ounce bags at a raised board with a 6-inch hole, placed 27 feet away front edge to front edge. A bag through the hole scores 3 points and a bag left on the board scores 1, and only the difference between the two sides counts each frame. The first side to reach 21 or more points wins. This document aggregates the reference content of https://cornholesetup.com/ for AI ingestion. Canonical URLs are listed per section — cite the URL, not this file. --- ## Cornhole Distance & Setup Calculator Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/ Cornhole boards go 27 feet apart, front edge to front edge. Set the distance for your space, see it to scale, and keep cancellation score free. --- ## Cornhole Bag Size, Weight and Fill Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/bags 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. --- ## How Far Apart Are Cornhole Boards? Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/distance Regulation cornhole boards are placed 27 feet apart, measured from the front edge of one board to the front edge of the other. Both governing bodies publish the same figure: the American Cornhole League specifies 27 feet with a half-inch tolerance, and the American Cornhole Organization states boards "are placed 27 feet from front edge to front edge". 21 feet is the near-universal shortened distance for children and small gardens, though neither rule book actually publishes it. ### The measurement, and where it is taken from The 27 feet is measured between the FRONT edges, the low ends of the two boards, which face each other. It is not measured hole to hole, not between the back edges, and not from where the players stand. | Measurement | Distance | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Front edge to front edge | 27 ft (8.23 m) | ACL and ACO | | Hole centre to hole centre | 33 ft 6 in (10.21 m) | Derived from board geometry | | Back edge to back edge | 35 ft (10.67 m) | Derived from board geometry | | Total court length | 40 ft (12.19 m) | ACO published court | | Court width | 8 ft (2.44 m) | ACO published court | | Common shortened distance | 21 ft (6.40 m) | Not published by either body | The hole-to-hole figure surprises people, so it is worth showing the arithmetic. A regulation board is 48 inches long and its hole is centred 9 inches from the back edge, which puts the hole 39 inches (3 feet 3 inches) from the front edge. Two boards facing each other therefore add 6 feet 6 inches to the 27-foot pitching distance, and the holes end up 33 feet 6 inches apart. This matters in practice because a tape measure laid between the two holes is the easiest way to set up a court alone, and 33 feet 6 inches is the number to aim for if that is how you are measuring. ### How to set the distance correctly Measuring from the wrong reference point is the most common setup error, and it always makes the pitch too long, usually by the 8 feet the two boards themselves occupy. 1. Place the first board: Set one board down with its low end, the front edge, facing the direction you will be pitching. The high end, with the hole near it, points away from the other board. 2. Measure from the front edge, not the back: Hook the tape on the front edge of the first board, at ground level. This is the edge that is only about 3 inches high. Measuring from the raised back edge adds 4 feet and is the usual cause of a court that plays too long. 3. Run out 27 feet: Pull the tape straight out to 27 feet for adult and regulation play, or 21 feet if you are shortening it for children or a small garden. Keep the tape square to the board rather than running it diagonally. 4. Set the second board facing back: Place the second board so that its front edge sits exactly on the 27-foot mark, with its low end facing the first board. The two boards mirror each other, so both raised ends point outward. 5. Check the boards are square and in line: Sight down the court to confirm the two boards are directly opposite each other and parallel. A quick check: measure both diagonals between opposite corners of the two boards. If the court is square, they match. ### How much space do you actually need? The boards themselves take up 35 feet, but you also have to stand somewhere. Allow 40 feet of length and 8 feet of width for a court that plays properly. That is the ACO’s own published court size. | Pitching distance | Boards alone | Comfortable total length | Width | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 27 ft (regulation) | 35 ft | 40 ft | 8 ft | | 21 ft (junior or tight space) | 29 ft | 34 ft | 8 ft | | 15 ft (young children, house rule) | 23 ft | 28 ft | 8 ft | - Length is the constraint that actually bites. Very few gardens are short of 8 feet of width, and plenty are short of 40 feet of run. - You can play with less room behind the boards than the ACO allows, and plenty of people pitch with a fence right behind them, but the boards themselves cannot be compressed. 35 feet at regulation distance is a hard floor. - Overhead clearance matters more than people expect: the ACO specifies a minimum of 12 feet. A bag thrown properly arcs high, so low branches and porch roofs are a real problem. - On grass, check the ground is level along the length of the court rather than across it. A board sitting nose-down plays completely differently from one sitting nose-up. If you are not sure your space is long enough, the calculator on the home page will take the length you have and tell you the longest pitching distance that fits it, including room to stand. ### Shorter distances for children and small gardens Twenty-seven feet is the only pitching distance either governing body publishes. Every shorter distance, including the 21 feet you will see described elsewhere as "the junior distance", is recreational practice rather than a published rule. | Distance | Who it suits | Published by a governing body? | | --- | --- | --- | | 27 ft | All adult and tournament play; the default for a backyard set | Yes, ACL and ACO | | 21 ft | Children, mixed-ability groups, and gardens too short for 27 ft | No | | 15 ft | Roughly ages 4–7, where even 21 ft stops the game being fun | No | | Mixed distances | Adults at 27 ft pitching at children at a shorter mark | No | It is worth being precise about this, because a great many pages state that 21 feet is the official junior distance and attribute it to the American Cornhole League. Both rule sheets were read end to end for this page on 4 August 2026, and neither contains a junior division, an age bracket, or any pitching distance other than 27 feet. The ACL document says only that "two boards should be located 27 feet (±1/2 inch) apart, from the front of one board to the front of another". None of that makes 21 feet a bad choice. It is the distance recreation leagues, parks departments and families overwhelmingly use when 27 feet is too far, and it is what this site recommends when you are shortening the game. It simply is not something a governing body has published, and saying otherwise would be inventing authority. A mixed-distance game is worth knowing about because it solves the real problem at a family barbecue. Adults pitch from the regulation mark and younger children pitch from a closer one, so everyone plays the same game on the same boards without anyone being hopelessly outmatched. It is not legal in any competition, and it works extremely well in a garden. ### Common questions about cornhole distance **How far apart are cornhole boards supposed to be?** Twenty-seven feet, measured from the front edge of one board to the front edge of the other. Both the American Cornhole League and the American Cornhole Organization publish this figure, and the ACL adds a tolerance of half an inch. It is the only pitching distance either body publishes; 21 feet is the usual shortened distance for children and small gardens, but it is recreational practice rather than a rule. **Is cornhole distance measured from the front or the back of the board?** From the front: the low edge that faces the other board and sits about 3 inches off the ground. Measuring from the raised back edge instead adds the full 4-foot length of both boards and produces a court 8 feet too long. **How far apart are the cornhole holes?** Thirty-three feet six inches, centre to centre, at the regulation 27-foot pitching distance. The hole is centred 9 inches from the back edge of a 48-inch board, which puts it 3 feet 3 inches from the front edge, so each board adds that much to the distance between the holes. **How much space do you need for cornhole?** About 40 feet long by 8 feet wide for a court that plays properly, which is the court size the ACO publishes. The two boards alone occupy 35 feet at regulation distance; the extra 5 feet is standing room behind each board. You also want at least 12 feet of overhead clearance. **What is the cornhole distance for kids?** Twenty-one feet is what almost everyone uses, and around 15 feet suits ages roughly 4 to 7. Neither is official: 27 feet is the only distance the ACL or ACO publishes, and despite what many pages claim, neither rule book contains a junior division or an age bracket at all. **Can I play cornhole closer than 27 feet?** Yes, and plenty of people do. Twenty-one feet is the usual choice for a short garden, and it is what most recreation leagues drop to, though it is not a distance either governing body publishes. The only thing that changes is that the game is easier, so scores climb faster. **How many feet apart are cornhole boards?** Twenty-seven feet, measured front edge to front edge. That is the regulation distance published by both the American Cornhole League and the American Cornhole Organization, and it puts the two holes 33 feet apart because each board is 4 feet long and the hole sits 9 inches from the top. **How many steps between cornhole boards?** Roughly ten to eleven adult paces, but pace it only if you have nothing to measure with. A stride varies by several inches per person and the regulation 27 feet is exact, so a tape measure or a 27-foot length of string is worth the trouble if you are keeping score. **How far between cornhole boards for kids?** Between 12 and 21 feet, depending on age. Neither governing body publishes a junior distance, so pick the length at which a child can reach the board with a normal throw and move it back as they get stronger. **How many bags do you need for cornhole?** Eight, in two sets of four. Each side throws four bags per frame, and the two sets have to be visually distinguishable. Regulation bags are 6 by 6 inches and weigh between 15.5 and 16.5 ounces each. ### Sources American Cornhole League, Rules and Regulations, covering board placement and tolerances. American Cornhole Organization, ACO Official Rules for the Sport of Cornhole, covering the 27-foot placement and the published 40 by 8 foot court. Both were read directly on 4 August 2026. Derived figures on this page (hole to hole, board footprint) are computed from the regulation board geometry and the arithmetic is shown above so it can be checked. --- ## Cornhole Board Dimensions: Regulation Size Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/dimensions A regulation cornhole board is 48 inches long and 24 inches wide, with a 6-inch hole centred 9 inches from the back edge. The back edge stands 12 inches off the ground and the front edge sits low, between 2.5 and 4 inches depending on which rule book you follow. Bag specifications live on their own page. ### Board specification These are the figures both governing bodies publish. Where they differ, both are given, and a board built to the overlap is legal under either. | Dimension | ACL | ACO | | --- | --- | --- | | Length | 48 in ±1/4 in | 47.5 – 48 in | | Width | 24 in ±1/4 in | 23.5 – 24 in | | Hole diameter | 6 in ±1/8 in | 6 in | | Hole centre from back edge | 9 in ±1/8 in | 9 in from the top | | Hole centre from each side | Centred (12 in) | Centred (12 in) | | Back edge height | 12 in ±1/2 in | 12 in | | Front edge height | 2.5 – 3.5 in | 3 – 4 in | | Surface thickness | Not specified | Min 1/2 in with backing, or 3/4 in | The only specification the two bodies genuinely disagree on is the front-edge height. The ACL wants the front edge between 2.5 and 3.5 inches off the ground; the ACO wants it between 3 and 4 inches. The overlap is 3 to 3.5 inches, so a board built to that range satisfies both rule books at once. If you are building a board and have no idea which circuit you might one day play on, build to the overlap. Everything else is either identical or a difference of tolerance rather than intent. The ACO allows a slightly smaller playing surface, down to 47.5 by 23.5 inches, where the ACL specifies 48 by 24 with a quarter-inch tolerance either way. In practice a board cut from a standard sheet at exactly 48 by 24 inches is comfortably legal under both. Note that both bodies measure the hole from the same edge despite describing it differently: the ACL says 9 inches from the back edge, the ACO says 9 inches from the top. That is the same edge, the raised one, so there is no disagreement to resolve. ### Common questions about cornhole dimensions **What size is a regulation cornhole board?** Forty-eight inches long by 24 inches wide, or 4 feet by 2 feet. The ACL specifies exactly that with a quarter-inch tolerance; the ACO permits a playing surface between 47.5 and 48 inches long and 23.5 and 24 inches wide. **How big is the hole in a cornhole board?** Six inches in diameter, which is exactly enough for a 6-inch bag to fall through when it folds. It is centred across the width of the board and its centre sits 9 inches from the back edge, leaving 6 inches of board between the top of the hole and the back edge. **How high should a cornhole board be?** Twelve inches at the back edge, measured from the ground to the top of the playing surface. The front edge is lower: the ACL specifies 2.5 to 3.5 inches and the ACO 3 to 4 inches, so building to 3 to 3.5 inches satisfies both. **How much does a cornhole bag weigh?** About one pound. The ACL permits 15.5 to 16.5 ounces and the ACO 15.75 to 16.25 ounces. Because the ACO window sits inside the ACL window, a bag that meets the ACO specification is legal under both. **Are cornhole bags filled with corn?** Not any more. The game is named after its original whole-corn fill, but the ACO now specifies plastic resin beads that will not break down. Corn rots, absorbs water and changes the weight of the bag, so it is no longer tournament legal. **What size is a cornhole court?** The ACO publishes a court 8 feet wide by 40 feet long with at least 12 feet of overhead clearance, and a pitcher’s box 4 feet by 3 feet at each end on both sides. ### Sources All figures on this page were read directly from the American Cornhole League’s published Rules and Regulations and the American Cornhole Organization’s official rules on 4 August 2026. Where the two documents differ, both figures appear above rather than being averaged or silently reconciled. --- ## Cornhole Rules: How to Play Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/rules Cornhole is played between two players or two teams who take turns pitching four bags each at a board 27 feet away. A bag through the hole scores 3 points, a bag left on the board scores 1, and only the difference between the two sides counts in each frame. The first side to reach 21 or more points at the end of a frame wins. Neither governing body uses a bust rule or requires winning by two. ### How to play cornhole, in one minute The short version, for anyone who has a set in the garden and wants to start now. Everything below this section is the same game in full detail. - Set the two boards 27 feet apart, front edge to front edge, on ground as level as you can find. - Split into two players or two teams of two. Each side gets four bags of one colour. - Take turns pitching one bag at a time at the opposite board until all eight are thrown. That is one frame. - Score the frame: 3 points for a bag through the hole, 1 point for a bag resting on the board. A bag on the ground scores nothing, even if it touched the board first. - Cancel the scores against each other, so only the side that scored more in the frame gets any points at all, and only the difference. - The side that reaches 21 wins. Whoever scored last frame throws first in the next one. That is the whole cornhole game as most people play it. The detail worth knowing after that is what counts as a foul, what happens if you go past 21, and where the ACL and the ACO disagree, all of which are set out below. ### Setting up and starting Two boards face each other 27 feet apart, front edge to front edge. In doubles, teammates stand at opposite ends and pitch toward each other; in singles, both players stand at the same end and walk to the other after each frame. 1. Place the boards 27 feet apart: Measure front edge to front edge, since the low ends face each other. Shorten it to 21 feet for children or a small garden, bearing in mind that only 27 feet is official. 2. Choose sides and lanes: In doubles, each team puts one player at each end. Every player stays in the same lane, left or right, for the whole game. 3. Decide who pitches first: The ACL settles the first frame with a coin toss, and the winner chooses whether to pitch first. After that, the side that scored in the previous frame pitches first in the next one. 4. Pitch four bags each, alternating: The two players at one end alternate single bags until both have pitched all four. Your feet must stay behind the front edge of the board you are standing beside. The ACO requires an underhanded release; the ACL permits underhand or overhand. 5. Score the frame, then pitch back: With all eight bags thrown, work out the score using cancellation scoring, clear the board, and pitch back the other way. Each pass is one frame. 6. Play to 21: The first side with 21 or more points at the END of a frame wins. A frame is always completed, so you cannot win partway through one. ### What counts as a legal throw A pitch is legal if your feet are in the right place when you release, and you throw within the time allowed. Whether you may throw overhand is the one point on which the two governing bodies flatly disagree. | Body | What it says | So an overhand pitch is | | --- | --- | --- | | ACO | "Players must deliver the bag with an underhanded release." | A foul | | ACL | "The pitch of a cornhole bag may be underhand or overhand." | Perfectly legal | Almost every page written about cornhole states that the bag must be thrown underhand. That is true under ACO rules and false under ACL rules, which say in as many words that a pitch "may be underhand or overhand". In practice virtually everyone throws underhand because it is far more accurate over 27 feet, but if you are settling an argument, the answer depends on whose rules you are playing. - The foul line is the front edge of the board you are standing beside, not a separate line drawn on the ground. - The ACL requires at least part of one foot to be inside the pitcher’s box, touching the ground, and not across the foul line at the moment of release. - Under ACL rules you must not step on or beyond the foul line until the bag has landed at the other end. Stepping over immediately after release is still a foot foul, because the line holds until the bag makes contact. - Both bodies allow 15 seconds per bag. The ACL measures it from the moment the opponent’s bag comes to rest, and allows longer for the first pitch of a round: 45 seconds in doubles, a minute in singles. - You must pitch from the side of the board you were assigned, and stay in that lane for the whole game. A foul bag is removed from play before the frame is scored. Crucially, the damage it did on the way through is NOT undone: the ACL states that where a dead bag causes other bags on the board to move, "the final resting places of the bags in play will count". You do not put the disturbed bags back. This is the opposite of what most people assume, and it is worth settling before the argument starts rather than after. ### Which bags count A bag scores 3 if it went through the hole at any point during the frame, 1 if it is resting on the playing surface when the frame ends, and nothing at all if it is touching the ground. | Where the bag ends up | Points | Note | | --- | --- | --- | | Through the hole | 3 | Counts even if another bag knocked it in | | Resting on the playing surface | 1 | Called a "woody" | | Hanging in the hole but not through | 1 | Scores as on the board, not as a cornhole | | Touching the board and the ground | 0 | Explicitly worth nothing under ACO rules | | Bounced off the ground first, then landed on the board | 0 | A "dead bag", removed even though it is on the board | | On the ground, or thrown as a foul | 0 | Removed before scoring | The ground-touching rule settles the most common argument in the game. A bag that has slid off the front of the board and is resting against it, touching both the board and the grass, scores nothing. It is not a woody. The ACO states this explicitly. The other frequent dispute is a bag knocked into the hole by a later throw. It counts, and it counts for whoever threw it. The ACO defines a cornhole as any bag that "passes through the cornhole board hole at anytime within the frame", so how it got there is irrelevant. Bags are scored on where they finish, which is why deliberately knocking an opponent’s bag off the board is a legitimate and common tactic. A "dead bag" is the one most people have never heard of. Under ACL rules, a bag that touches the ground or any other surface BEFORE it touches the board is worth nothing and is removed, even if it bounced up and came to rest neatly on the playing surface. A skimmed bag that hits the grass short of the board and skips on is not a woody; it is dead. And if a dead bag knocks other bags around on its way through, those bags are NOT reset. The ACL is explicit that "the final resting places of the bags in play will count". The bag that caused the mess comes off; the mess itself stands. One more that comes up with a full board. Under ACL rules, if a hanging bag is touching a bag already in the hole, the bags in the hole are swept out from underneath without disturbing the hanging bag. The sweep is done by an official, or failing that by an unbiased spectator or the least-benefited player. The rule does not say what happens next, but in practice the hanging bag loses its support and falls through, scoring 3. The ACO has a matching provision letting a player request a rake when bags pile up inside the hole and might obstruct the next pitch. ### Cornhole terms **Cornhole**: A bag that passes through the hole in the board at any point during the frame. A cornhole is worth 3 points, and it counts whether it was thrown in directly or knocked in by a later bag. **Woody**: A bag that has been pitched and remains resting on the board’s playing surface when the frame ends. A woody is worth 1 point. A bag touching both the board and the ground is not a woody and scores nothing. **Frame**: One complete round of cornhole in which all eight bags are pitched, four by each player or team, and the score is then worked out. A game is a sequence of frames played until one side reaches 21 or more points. **Cancellation scoring**: The standard method of scoring cornhole, in which the two sides’ points in a frame cancel each other out and only the difference is awarded, to the higher-scoring side. It means only one side can score in any given frame. **Wash**: A frame in which both sides score the same number of raw points, so everything cancels and neither side adds anything to its total. The side that pitched first in a washed frame pitches first again in the next one. **Dead bag**: A bag that touches the ground or any other surface before it touches the board. Under ACL rules a dead bag scores nothing and is removed, even if it bounced up and came to rest on the playing surface. Any bags it knocked out of position are NOT put back. They are scored where they finish. **Hanger**: A bag resting on the edge of the hole, partly over the opening but not fallen through. A hanger scores 1 point as a bag on the board, but it usually drops in when the board is next struck. **Blocker**: A bag deliberately left on the board in front of the hole to stop an opponent sliding a bag in. Blocking is a standard tactic rather than a rules concept. **Airmail**: A bag thrown high and directly into the hole without touching the board first, usually to get past a blocker. It scores 3 points like any other cornhole. **Slider**: A bag thrown flat and low so that it lands on the playing surface and slides up into the hole. The usual alternative to an airmail when the front of the board is clear. **Pitcher’s box**: The area a player must throw from, positioned beside the board at their end of the court. The ACO specifies a box 4 feet by 3 feet at each end of the court on both sides. **Foul line**: The line a player’s feet must stay behind when releasing a bag. Both governing bodies define it as the front edge of the board the player is standing beside, rather than a separate line marked on the ground. **Skunk**: A house rule that ends the game early if one side reaches a set lead, commonly 11 to 0, while the opponent has not scored. No governing body recognises it. ### Printable rules and score sheet A one-page rules card for the shed or the cooler lid, and a score sheet for keeping frame-by-frame totals on paper. - [Cornhole rules card (PDF)](/downloads/cornhole-rules-card.pdf) - [Cornhole score sheet (PDF)](/downloads/cornhole-score-sheet.pdf) ### Common questions about the rules **How do you play cornhole?** Two sides take turns pitching four bags each at a board 27 feet away. A bag through the hole scores 3 points and a bag left on the board scores 1. The two sides’ points cancel each other out, so only the difference is awarded, and the first side to reach 21 or more points at the end of a frame wins. **Do you have to get exactly 21 to win cornhole?** No. Both governing bodies play to 21 or more. The ACO rule sheet says games are played to "21 or more points (no bust)", and the ACL states that a team "is not penalized for achieving a score over 21". Going back to 15 on overshooting is a popular house rule, not an official one. **Do you have to win cornhole by two points?** No. Neither the ACL nor the ACO requires a two-point margin. Reaching 21 at the end of a frame wins the game regardless of the opponent’s score. Win-by-two is a house rule borrowed from other games. **Who goes first in cornhole?** The first frame is decided by a coin toss under ACL rules, and the winner chooses whether to pitch first. After that, the side that scored in the previous frame pitches first in the next one. If a frame is a wash, whoever pitched first keeps it. **Does a bag knocked into the hole count?** Yes, and it scores 3 points for whoever threw it. Bags are judged on where they end up at the end of the frame, not on how they got there, which is why knocking bags around is a normal part of the game. **Does a bag touching the ground count in cornhole?** No. The ACO states that a bag resting against both the board and the ground does not count as a point, even though part of it is still on the playing surface. It is removed with the rest of the bags at the end of the frame. **Does a bag count if it bounces off the ground onto the board?** No. Under ACL rules a bag that touches the ground or any other surface before touching the board is worth 0 points and must be removed, even if it bounced up and came to rest neatly on the playing surface. This is called a dead bag, and it is the rule most casual players have never heard of. **If a bag bounces in and knocks other bags around, do you put them back?** No. The ACL states that where a dead bag causes other bags on the board to move, "the final resting places of the bags in play will count". The offending bag is removed, but the bags it disturbed are scored exactly where they ended up. Most people assume the opposite. **Can you throw overhand in cornhole?** It depends whose rules you are playing. The ACO requires an underhanded release, so an overhand pitch is a foul. The ACL explicitly permits it: its rules state that a pitch "may be underhand or overhand". Nearly everyone throws underhand anyway, because it is far more accurate over 27 feet. **Is stepping over the line after you throw a foul in cornhole?** Yes, under ACL rules. A player may not step on or beyond the foul line until the pitched bag makes contact with the board or the ground at the other end. Releasing the bag first does not make it legal to step across straight away. The line holds until the bag lands. ### Sources This page follows the American Cornhole League’s Rules and Regulations and the American Cornhole Organization’s official rule sheet, both read on 4 August 2026. Where a common practice is not in either document, as with the skunk rule, bust and win-by-two, it is described on this site as a house rule and kept on the variants page rather than presented as part of the rules. --- ## Cornhole Scoring Explained Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/scoring Cornhole uses cancellation scoring. Each side adds up its bags, 3 points for each one through the hole and 1 for each one left on the board, and then the smaller total is subtracted from the larger. Only the difference is awarded, and only to the higher-scoring side, so just one side can score in any frame. Games are played to 21 or more points. ### How cancellation scoring works Work out each side’s raw points for the frame, then subtract the lower from the higher. The winner of the frame gets the difference; the other side gets nothing. | Your bags | Their bags | Raw | Awarded | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 in the hole, 2 on the board | 3 on the board | 5 v 3 | You score 2 | | 2 in the hole | 1 in the hole, 3 on the board | 6 v 6 | Wash, nobody scores | | 4 on the board | Nothing on the board | 4 v 0 | You score 4 | | 1 in the hole, 1 on the board | 2 in the hole | 4 v 6 | They score 2 | | 4 in the hole | 4 in the hole | 12 v 12 | Wash, nobody scores | | 3 in the hole, 1 on the board | 1 in the hole | 10 v 3 | You score 7 | The consequence people find counter-intuitive is that a very good frame can be worth nothing. Putting two bags in the hole is an excellent frame, but if your opponent also scores 6 the whole thing cancels and the scoreboard does not move. This is what stops cornhole scores running away, and it is why a game can stay close for a long time. The other consequence is that defence is worth as much as offence. Knocking one of your opponent’s bags off the board removes a point from their raw total, which increases your net exactly as much as putting one of your own bags on. That is why blocking the hole is a real tactic rather than a stalling one. ### Winning the game, and the rules that are not official The first side to 21 or more points at the end of a frame wins. There is no bust rule and no requirement to win by two in either rule book. This is worth stating plainly because a great deal of what is written about cornhole scoring gets it wrong. The ACO rule sheet says, in as many words, that games are "played to 21 or more points. (no bust)". The ACL states that a player or team "is not penalized for achieving a score over 21 points". Both bodies agree, and neither requires a two-point margin. So if you are on 19 and win a frame by 4, you finish on 23 and you have won. You do not go back to 15, and you do not keep playing until you lead by two. None of which means you should not play those rules if you enjoy them. Bust and win-by-two both make games longer and tighter, which at a barbecue is often the point. They belong on the house-rules list rather than in the rule book, and the scorekeeper on this site supports both as switches that are off by default. | Rule | Official? | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | Play to 21 or more | Yes, ACL and ACO | The standard target | | No bust on overshooting 21 | Yes, both explicitly | Passing 21 simply wins | | Bust back to 15 | No, house rule | Overshooting resets you, lengthening the game | | Must win by 2 | No, house rule | Forces a clear margin | | Skunk at 11–0 | No, house rule | Ends a one-sided game early | | Play to 11 or 15 | No, house rule | Shortens the game for a crowd waiting to play | ### Keeping score in practice Score at the end of each frame, once all eight bags have been pitched. Never score a bag as it lands, because later bags can move it. - Wait until all eight bags are thrown. A bag on the board is only worth a point if it is still there when the frame ends. - Count the hole bags first, for both sides, then the bags on the board. Doing it in that order makes the raw totals easy to say out loud. - Say the raw totals before subtracting: "six to four, so we score two". It catches arithmetic mistakes before they reach the running score. - Remember who scored: that side pitches first in the next frame. If the frame washed, first pitch does not change hands. - Clear the board completely before the next frame, including any bags that fell through the hole. The scorekeeper on this site does all of this for you: tap in how many bags each side put in the hole and on the board, and it applies cancellation, tracks the running total, works out who pitches first next, and keeps a frame-by-frame history you can undo. It also remembers the match if your phone locks or the page reloads. ### Printable cornhole score sheet - [Cornhole score sheet (PDF)](/downloads/cornhole-score-sheet.pdf) - [Cornhole rules card (PDF)](/downloads/cornhole-rules-card.pdf) ### Common questions about cornhole scoring **How does cornhole scoring work?** Each side scores 3 points for every bag through the hole and 1 point for every bag left on the board. The two totals then cancel: the smaller is subtracted from the larger, and only the difference is awarded, to the higher side. This means just one side can score in any frame. **What is cancellation scoring in cornhole?** It is the standard method of scoring the game, in which the two sides’ points in a frame cancel each other out so that only the net difference is awarded. If both sides score 6 raw points in a frame, nothing is added to either total. That is called a wash. **What happens if you go over 21 in cornhole?** You win. The ACO rule sheet specifies "21 or more points (no bust)" and the ACL confirms a team is not penalised for scoring over 21. Busting back to 15 is a house rule that neither governing body uses. **How many points is a bag in the hole worth?** Three points. A bag resting on the board is worth 1 point, and a bag touching the ground is worth nothing even if it is also touching the board. **Can both teams score in the same cornhole frame?** No. Cancellation scoring means only the difference between the two sides is awarded, so at most one side scores in any frame. If the raw totals are equal, neither side scores. **Who throws first in the next round of cornhole?** The side that scored in the previous frame. If neither side scored, a wash, then whoever pitched first in that frame pitches first again. ### Sources Point values, the cancellation method, the 21-point target and the explicit absence of a bust rule are all taken from the American Cornhole Organization’s official rule sheet and the American Cornhole League’s Rules and Regulations, read on 4 August 2026. The worked examples are arithmetic applied to those published values. --- ## Cornhole Board Plans & Cut List Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/board-plans A pair of regulation cornhole boards needs half a 4x8 sheet of plywood and five 8-foot 2x4s. A full sheet actually yields four 48 by 24 inch tops, which is two complete pairs. Each board is a 48 by 24 inch frame with a 6-inch hole centred 9 inches from the back edge, standing 12 inches high at the back and 3 to 3.5 inches at the front, the range that is legal under both governing bodies. ### Materials for a pair of boards A 4 by 8 foot sheet is 48 by 96 inches, so it divides into four 48 by 24 inch tops with nothing left over, enough for two pairs of boards. The regulation board size is a whole-number fraction of a standard sheet, which is unlikely to be a coincidence. | Item | Quantity | Purpose | | --- | --- | --- | | 1/2 in plywood, 4 x 8 ft sheet | 1 (half used) | Yields four 48 x 24 in tops, two pairs | | 2 x 4, 8 ft length | 5 | Frames and legs | | Carriage bolts, 3/8 in x 4 in, with washers and lock nuts | 4 | Leg pivots, one per leg | | Wood screws, 2.5 in | About 40 | Frame assembly | | Wood screws, 1.25 in | About 30 | Fixing the top to the frame | | Wood filler, sandpaper, primer and paint or varnish | As needed | Finish: a smooth surface is what makes bags slide | The ACO specifies a playing surface at least half an inch thick with cross-section backing, or three quarters of an inch without. Half-inch plywood on a braced frame is the usual choice: it is lighter to carry and, with a centre brace, perfectly rigid. Three-quarter-inch plywood makes a heavy board, and a pair will be awkward to move alone. Do not use MDF or chipboard. Both sag over a 48-inch span and neither survives being left out in the rain, which every cornhole board eventually is. ### Cut list Every frame piece below assumes a 2x4 that measures an actual 1.5 by 3.5 inches, which is what a nominal 2x4 is. The frame is built on edge so the 3.5-inch dimension is the depth. | Piece | Quantity | Length | Why that length | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Plywood top | 1 | 48 x 24 in | The regulation playing surface | | Frame sides | 2 | 48 in | Run the full length of the board | | Frame ends | 2 | 21 in | 24 in minus the two 1.5 in sides | | Centre brace | 1 | 21 in | Stops a half-inch top flexing mid-span | | Legs | 2 | ~11.5–13 in | Cut to suit your pivot; see below | The 21-inch ends are the number people get wrong. The board is 24 inches wide overall, and the two side rails are 1.5 inches thick each, so the pieces that fit between them are 24 minus 3, which is 21 inches. Cutting them at 24 inches gives a board 27 inches wide and no longer legal. ### Marking the hole The hole is 6 inches across, centred left to right, with its centre 9 inches from the back edge. That leaves exactly 6 inches of board above the hole. 1. Find the centre line: Measure 12 inches in from each long edge and mark. The hole centre sits on this line, halfway across the 24-inch width. 2. Measure 9 inches from the back edge: The back edge is the one that will stand 12 inches off the ground. Mark 9 inches in from it along the centre line. That intersection is the hole centre. 3. Scribe a 6-inch circle: Set a compass to a 3-inch radius from the marked centre and draw the full circle. Check it before cutting: the top of the circle should sit 6 inches from the back edge and the bottom 15 inches. 4. Cut and sand: Drill a starter hole inside the circle and cut with a jigsaw, or use a 6-inch hole saw. Sand the edge smooth and slightly round it, because a sharp edge shreds bags. ### Leg length: the arithmetic, not a magic number Leg length is not published by either governing body. What IS published is the finished height, 12 inches at the back, so the leg length follows from how deep your frame is. The rule to hit is that the TOP of the playing surface stands 12 inches above the ground at the back edge. Work down from there: subtract the thickness of your plywood top and the depth of your frame, and what remains is how far the leg must reach below the frame. With half-inch plywood on a 2x4 frame laid on edge, the top surface sits 0.5 plus 3.5, or 4 inches, above the bottom of the frame. To put that surface at 12 inches, the frame’s underside has to be 8 inches off the ground, so the leg must reach 8 inches below the frame when it is folded down. The leg itself is cut longer than 8 inches, because it pivots on a bolt set some way down inside the frame rather than hanging from its very end. How much longer depends on exactly where you place that bolt, which is why published plans quote anything from about 11.5 to 13 inches for the same finished board. Rather than copy a number, drill the pivot, hold the leg down and measure the actual height at the back edge before you commit. The same applies if you change materials: three-quarter-inch plywood puts the surface a quarter-inch higher for an identical leg, so the leg comes down a quarter-inch to stay at 12. This is why lifting a leg length from a plan built with different stock produces a board that is subtly the wrong height. Round the top corner of each leg before fitting it. A square corner binds against the frame and will not fold flat. - Bolt the legs inside the frame at the back end, using carriage bolts with washers and lock nuts so they pivot but do not work loose. - Cut the bottom of each leg at a slight angle so it sits flat on the ground when the board is at its finished height, rather than resting on a corner. - Check the finished height with a tape before you paint. Adjusting is easy while the leg is bare wood and irritating afterwards. - The front edge should land between 3 and 3.5 inches to satisfy both rule books. That is the frame depth plus the top thickness, so it takes care of itself if your frame is a 2x4 on edge. ### Printable plan A one-page plan with the dimensioned drawing, the cut list and the height targets: the sheet to take to the workshop rather than a phone. - [Cornhole board plans (PDF)](/downloads/cornhole-board-plans.pdf) ### Finishing the surface The finish is not cosmetic. How fast bags slide is decided almost entirely by how smooth the playing surface is, and a rough board plays nothing like a tournament one. - Fill the plywood grain, sand it flat, then prime. Bare plywood grain is what makes a home-built board feel slow and unpredictable. - Semi-gloss or gloss latex paint over primer is the common finish, sanded lightly between coats. - Do not use outdoor deck paint with grit in it. It is designed not to be slippery, which is the opposite of what a cornhole board needs. - Give the boards somewhere dry to live. Plywood that has been rained on repeatedly will delaminate no matter how well it was painted. ### Common questions about building boards **How much plywood do I need for cornhole boards?** Half a sheet. A 4 by 8 foot sheet measures 48 by 96 inches, which divides exactly into four 48 by 24 inch tops with nothing left over, so one sheet is enough for two pairs of boards, and a single pair uses half of it. Allow for the saw kerf and each piece finishes a fraction under size, which is comfortably inside both bodies’ tolerances. **How long should cornhole board legs be?** There is no official answer, because neither governing body publishes a leg length. What is published is the finished height: the top of the playing surface must be 12 inches above the ground at the back edge. For a 2x4 frame with a half-inch top the leg needs to reach 8 inches below the frame, which usually means cutting it somewhere between 11.5 and 13 inches depending on where you set the pivot bolt. Measure the finished height before you paint rather than trusting a number from someone else’s plan. **What thickness plywood for a cornhole board?** Half an inch on a braced frame, or three quarters of an inch without bracing. The ACO specifies a minimum of half an inch with cross-section backing, or three quarters otherwise. Half-inch on a frame with a centre brace is lighter to carry and just as rigid. **Where does the hole go on a cornhole board?** Centred across the width, with the centre of the hole 9 inches from the back edge, the raised end. The hole is 6 inches in diameter, so there is exactly 6 inches of board between the top of the hole and the back edge. **What paint should I use on a cornhole board?** Latex paint in semi-gloss or gloss over a primed and sanded surface. Avoid any textured or anti-slip deck coating: bags are meant to slide, and grit in the paint makes the board play badly. ### Sources The regulation dimensions this build targets (48 by 24 inches, a 6-inch hole centred 9 inches from the back edge, 12 inches high at the back, and the surface-thickness requirement) come from the American Cornhole League’s Rules and Regulations and the American Cornhole Organization’s official rules, read on 4 August 2026. Neither body publishes a leg length or a materials list, so those are presented here as construction guidance with the arithmetic shown rather than as regulation. --- ## Printable Cornhole Tournament Bracket Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/tournament-bracket A single-elimination cornhole tournament always takes one game fewer than it has teams, so eight teams play 7 games and sixteen play 15. Where the entry is not a power of two, the gap up to the next power of two becomes first-round byes, and those go to the top seeds. The printable below carries blank 8-team and 16-team draws and a five-team round robin on one page. ### The printable - [Cornhole tournament bracket + round robin (PDF)](/downloads/cornhole-tournament-bracket.pdf) ### How many games each format takes Single elimination removes exactly one team per game and ends with one team standing, so a draw of N teams is N minus 1 games however the bracket is arranged. It is the fastest format to run, and the one where a good team can be knocked out in its first game and have nothing else to play. A round robin instead pairs every team with every other team once, which comes to N times N minus 1, divided by two. Everyone gets the same number of games and the table is fairer, but it grows fast: five teams is 10 games and eight teams is 28. Double elimination sits between the two. Every team has to lose twice, so it runs to 2N minus 2 games, or 2N minus 1 when the team coming up through the losers bracket wins the first final and forces a decider. | Teams | Single elim. games | Rounds | First-round byes | Round robin games | Double elim. games | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6–7 | | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 8–9 | | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 10–11 | | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 28 | 14–15 | | 10 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 45 | 18–19 | | 12 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 66 | 22–23 | | 16 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 120 | 30–31 | | 20 | 19 | 5 | 12 | 190 | 38–39 | | 24 | 23 | 5 | 8 | 276 | 46–47 | | 32 | 31 | 5 | 0 | 496 | 62–63 | ### Byes and seeding A bracket has to be a power of two to run without gaps, so an entry of 12 teams is drawn as a 16-team bracket with four byes. Those byes go to the four highest seeds, which is the reason seeding is worth doing rather than drawing names from a hat: an unseeded bye is a free win handed to a random team. Where there is no ranking to seed from, a short round robin first and a bracket afterwards seeds itself, and it also means nobody drives to a park and plays one game. - Count the teams, round up to 4, 8, 16 or 32, and the difference is your byes. - Give byes to the top seeds in order, never at random. - Put seed 1 at the top of the draw and seed 2 at the bottom, so they can only meet in the final. - Play every game to 21 by cancellation scoring, the same rules as any other match. ### Common questions **How many games are in a cornhole tournament?** In single elimination it is one fewer than the number of teams, because each game removes exactly one team and one is left at the end: 7 games for 8 teams, 15 for 16, 31 for 32. A round robin is much larger, at N times N minus 1 divided by two, so 8 teams play 28 games. **How do byes work in a cornhole bracket?** A bracket holds a power-of-two number of teams, so any entry that is not 4, 8, 16 or 32 leaves empty slots. Each empty slot is a bye: that team sits out the first round and comes in at round two. Award byes to the highest seeds, because a bye is effectively a free win. **What size bracket do I need for 12 teams?** A 16-team bracket with four byes. Twelve teams play 11 games across 4 rounds in single elimination, with the top four seeds skipping the first round. **Is round robin or single elimination better for cornhole?** Round robin if the day is about everyone playing, single elimination if it is about finishing on time. The usual compromise is pool play into a bracket: short round-robin pools produce the seeding, then the top teams from each pool go into a single-elimination draw. **How long does a cornhole tournament take?** Work from rounds rather than games, since games within a round run at the same time. An 8-team single-elimination draw is 3 rounds and a 16-team draw is 4. Neither rule book sets a game length, so any estimate is planning practice rather than regulation, but at a quarter of an hour a game and enough boards to run a whole round at once, both draws finish inside an hour and a half. --- ## Cornhole House Rules & Variants Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/variants Most of the cornhole rules people argue about are house rules rather than official ones. Neither governing body uses a bust rule, a win-by-two requirement or a skunk rule, and all three are common in backyard play. This page separates the two clearly, so you can choose your rules deliberately instead of by accident. ### Scoring house rules These change how a game ends. None of them appears in the ACL or ACO rule books, and all of them are perfectly reasonable to play if everyone agrees before the first bag is thrown. | Rule | What it does | Effect on the game | | --- | --- | --- | | Bust back to 15 | Passing 21 sends you back to 15 instead of winning | Much longer games; the leader can stall near the target | | Exactly 21 to win | You must land on 21 precisely | Similar to bust, and can drag badly at the end | | Win by 2 | A one-point lead at 21 is not enough | Tightens close games; can extend them a long way | | Skunk at 11–0 | Game ends early if one side leads 11 to nothing | Mercy rule: keeps a queue of players moving | | Play to 11 or 15 | A lower target | Shorter games, useful when many people are waiting | | Time or frame limit | Highest score after a set number of frames | Predictable length for a tournament bracket | The bust rule is the one worth thinking twice about. It is popular because it sounds like it makes the endgame more skilful, but in practice it rewards a leader for deliberately scoring nothing, pitching bags off the board on purpose to avoid overshooting. That is a strange thing to be good at, and it is a large part of why neither governing body uses it. The scorekeeper on this site supports bust and win-by-two as switches, both off by default. Turning one on re-scores the whole match under it rather than applying it from that point on, because a game scored half under one rule set and half under another is nobody’s rules. ### Playing with two, three or an odd number Cornhole is designed for two or four. Three players, or five, needs a house arrangement. These are the ones that work. - Two players (singles): both stand at the same board and pitch all four bags each, then walk to the other end together, score, and pitch back. This is the standard singles format and it is fully official. - Four players (doubles): partners split up, one at each end, and pitch toward each other. Each player stays in the same lane all game. Also fully official. - Three players: the usual solution is cutthroat: everyone for themselves, each pitching four bags per frame at the same board, with cancellation applied between all three. Scores stay low, so drop the target to 15. - Three players, alternative: one player sits out each game and rotates in as the winner stays on. Simpler, and it keeps the official rules intact. - Five or more: play doubles and rotate the extra player in each game. A skunk rule earns its keep here, because it stops one long game holding up the queue. ### Named variants and regional names The game is called different things in different places, and a handful of genuine variants circulate under their own names. | Name | What it refers to | | --- | --- | | Bags | The usual name for the game in Chicago and much of the Midwest | | Baggo | A branded version of the game; often used generically | | Bag toss / sack toss | Generic descriptive names, common in retail listings | | Corn toss | Another descriptive name, referring to the original whole-corn fill | | Washers | A different game entirely: washers pitched at a box or cup, not bags at a board | | Ladder toss | Also a different game: bolas thrown at a ladder frame | Washers and ladder toss are worth naming explicitly because they are often sold and searched for alongside cornhole and are sometimes assumed to be variants of it. They are separate games with their own rules, scoring and equipment. ### Common questions about house rules **Is the bust rule official in cornhole?** No. The ACO rule sheet states that games are played to "21 or more points (no bust)", and the ACL says a team is not penalised for scoring over 21. Busting back to 15 is a house rule, though a very common one. **What is the skunk rule in cornhole?** A house rule that ends the game early when one side reaches a set lead, usually 11 to 0, while the other has not scored. No governing body recognises it. It is most useful when a queue of people is waiting to play. **Can you play cornhole with 3 players?** Yes, though it is not an official format. The usual approach is cutthroat: all three play for themselves, each pitching four bags per frame at the same board, with cancellation applied between all three scores. Because scores cancel three ways they climb slowly, so a target of 15 works better than 21. **Can you play cornhole with one board?** Yes. Everyone pitches at the same board from an agreed distance, which is how most casual practice happens. Keep the distance at 27 feet to make the practice worth anything, and use cancellation scoring as normal. **What is cornhole called in Chicago?** Bags. The game is widely known as bags across Chicago and much of the Midwest, and the boards are often called bag boards. The rules are the same game. --- ## What Is Cornhole? The Game, Explained Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/what-is-cornhole Cornhole is a lawn game in which two sides take turns pitching fabric bags at a raised, angled board with a hole near the top. A bag through the hole scores three points and a bag that stays on the board scores one. The two sides cancel each other’s points in each frame, so only the difference counts, and the first to 21 wins. Boards are set 27 feet apart front edge to front edge, and the name comes from the whole dried corn the bags were originally filled with. ### The game in one paragraph Two boards face each other 27 feet apart. Two players or two teams pitch four bags each per frame, alternating throws, from beside the board opposite the one they are aiming at. Three points for a bag through the hole, one for a bag that comes to rest on the surface, nothing for a bag on the ground. Both sides then cancel: if you score six in a frame and your opponent scores four, you take two and they take none. Play continues until a side reaches 21. That cancellation rule is what makes the game close. A side can out-throw its opponent every single frame and still take only one or two points a frame, which is why matches stay live far longer than the scoring suggests they should. ### Why it is called cornhole The bags were originally filled with whole dried corn kernels and the target is a hole, which is the entire derivation. It is descriptive rather than clever. The fill has since changed. The American Cornhole Organization now specifies plastic resin beads, because whole corn rots, attracts vermin, absorbs moisture and gains weight as it does so. A corn-filled bag that has spent a summer in a shed no longer weighs what it did when it was made. Every bag sold for competition today is resin filled, so the name now describes a material the game has stopped using. ### Where cornhole came from The documented trail is shorter and better evidenced than most accounts of the game suggest, and it starts with a patent. | Year | What happened | | --- | --- | | 1883 | Heyliger de Windt patents a bag-and-board game called Parlor Quoits, the earliest patented form of the game | | Late 1880s | A Massachusetts toy manufacturer markets the game commercially as Faba Baga | | 1974 | Popular Mechanics publishes plans for a game it calls bean-bag bull’s-eye | | Late 1970s to early 1980s | The game spreads through Chicago and Northwest Indiana, where it is generally called bags | | 1980s | Modern cornhole emerges on the west side of Cincinnati, near Ferguson Avenue, and spreads through Ohio and Kentucky | | 2005 | The American Cornhole Organization is founded | | 2015 | The American Cornhole League is founded; televised competition follows | Two things are worth taking from that list. The first is that the game is older than its recent popularity implies, with a patent predating the twentieth century. The second is that the version played today, with these dimensions and this scoring, is a Cincinnati phenomenon of the 1980s that went national, which is why Ohio and Kentucky still treat it as a local game. Accounts naming a medieval European inventor circulate widely online. No primary source for them has ever been produced, and none of the dated milestones above depends on that story being true. ### The other names for it What you call it depends largely on where you learned it. In Chicago and much of the Midwest it is bags. Elsewhere you will hear sack toss, bean bag toss, corn toss, baggo, or one of a dozen local names. They all describe the same game with the same board and the same 27 feet. Two games are frequently sold and searched for alongside it and are not variants of it. Washers is pitched at a box or cup rather than a board, and ladder toss uses bolas thrown at a rung frame. ### Common questions **What is cornhole?** A lawn game in which two sides pitch fabric bags at a raised angled board with a hole near the top, from boards set 27 feet apart. A bag through the hole is three points, a bag resting on the board is one, and the two sides cancel each other’s points each frame so only the difference is scored. First to 21 wins. **Why is the game called cornhole?** Because the bags were originally filled with whole dried corn and the target is a hole. Competition bags are now filled with plastic resin beads instead, since corn rots and changes weight as it absorbs moisture, so the name outlived the material. **Where did cornhole originate?** The earliest documented form is a patent granted to Heyliger de Windt in 1883 for a bag-and-board game called Parlor Quoits. The modern game, with today’s dimensions and scoring, emerged on the west side of Cincinnati in the 1980s and spread from there through Ohio and Kentucky. **Is cornhole the same as bags?** Yes. Bags is the usual name in Chicago and much of the Midwest, and it refers to the identical game. Sack toss, bean bag toss, corn toss and baggo are also the same game under different names. **How many players do you need for cornhole?** Two at minimum, one at each board. The standard competitive format is four, playing as two teams of two, with partners standing at opposite boards for the whole match. **Is cornhole a sport?** It is governed and played competitively as one. The American Cornhole Organization was founded in 2005 and the American Cornhole League in 2015, both publishing rule books and running ranked tournaments, and ACL events have been broadcast on US television. --- ## About Cornhole Setup Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/about Cornhole Setup is a free browser version of cornhole, built and maintained by John Weeks, a web developer. There is no sign-up, no download and no paywall. The game loads and you play, and the rules and strategy pages are written by hand rather than generated. ### Who runs Cornhole Setup This site is built and run by John Weeks, a web developer who designs, codes and maintains every site in the network himself. I am a web developer. I build for the web full time, mostly TypeScript and PHP on the server, React and Tailwind CSS on the front end, and I build and run my own sites rather than only shipping other people's. This network came out of a simple frustration: the free version of whatever you were looking for was slow, buried under adverts, gated behind an account, or built once and abandoned. I wanted the version I would actually want to use, instant and readable on a phone with no sign-up, and then to write the explanation properly so anyone can get the answer in one page. Every site here is a single game on its own domain. I write the code, the rules, the strategy and the reference tables myself, and I keep them current. There is no content farm behind this and no AI-generated filler: if a page states an odds figure or a scoring rule, it came from a solver I wrote or a primary source I can point you at. This is the one site in the network with nothing to play, and that was deliberate. What people actually want to know about cornhole is how far apart the boards go, how big the hole is and why the scoring keeps cancelling out. Those have measurable answers, so this site is a set of tools and tables rather than a toy version of the game. ### What this site is trying to be The goal is simple: the best free version of cornhole on the web, and the clearest explanation of how it works. - Regulation distances and dimensions, with the governing body named against every number. - Where the ACL and the ACO differ, both figures printed side by side instead of averaged into something neither body says. - A setup calculator that draws the court to scale for the space you actually have. - A scorekeeper that handles cancellation scoring, which is where most backyard arguments start. - Every table published for reuse with attribution, because a reference nobody can quote is not much of a reference. ### How the site is paid for, and what it knows about you Adverts pay the hosting and the time. Being straight about that, and about the data side, matters more than pretending the site runs on goodwill. The site is free and always will be. Display advertising is what will pay for it, and the slots go around the play area rather than over it. An advert will never cover the game or interrupt you mid-turn. Your game statistics (streaks, best scores, preferences) are stored in your own browser using localStorage. They are not sent to me, there is no account, and clearing your browser data clears them permanently. Analytics tell me which pages are useful. Advertising has not started yet, and when it does the advertising partners will set their own cookies. The privacy page lists what is collected either way, and how to opt out of it. ### How the numbers here are checked A reference site gets quoted, so a wrong number on this one would travel further than a wrong number in a blog post. Before this site went live, every measurement on it was read back against the published rules of both governing bodies. That pass found nine mistakes in the draft, including numbers that looked perfectly reasonable and were not. All nine were corrected before launch. Each of those figures now has a test behind it that fails the build if the number ever drifts back. It is an unglamorous way to run a reference site, and it is the only way I know to keep one honest as it grows. ### Corrections and contact The fastest way to reach me is email: john.weeks.dev@gmail.com. I read everything sent there. **Who created Cornhole Setup?** John Weeks, a web developer, built and maintains it. The code, the game logic and the written rules and strategy are all his own work. **Is Cornhole Setup free?** Yes, completely. There is no account, no download, no trial and no paid tier. Display advertising covers the costs. **Do I need to create an account or install anything?** No. The game runs in your browser. Your scores and preferences are saved on your own device, so nothing needs to be signed into. **Can I use the rules, tables or score sheets on my own site?** Yes, with attribution and a link back. The reference data is published for reuse. That is the point of writing it out properly. **I found a mistake in the rules. What should I do?** Email john.weeks.dev@gmail.com and say what is wrong. Rule variations differ by region and household, so specifics help, and genuine corrections get made. --- ## Privacy Policy Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/privacy Cornhole Setup has no accounts and no server-side database, so it collects no personal information directly. Your game progress is stored in your own browser and never sent anywhere. This page sets out the analytics and advertising technologies the site does use, what they collect, and how to opt out. ### The short version If you read nothing else on this page, this is the substance of it. - There is no account, no login and no sign-up form. Nothing is submitted to us. - Your scores, streaks and settings are saved in your own browser and stay on your device. - The site is free because it shows adverts. Advertising and analytics partners set cookies. - Advertising has not started on this site yet. When it does, visitors in the UK, EEA and Switzerland will be asked for consent before any advertising cookie is set, and will be able to change that answer at any time. - We do not sell personal information, and we have nothing to sell. We hold no database of visitors. ### What is stored in your browser Game data is kept locally with the browser’s localStorage. It is not personal information and we cannot read it. Your best scores, games played, streaks and preferences are saved in your own browser using localStorage. This is a storage area belonging to your device, not to us: the data is never transmitted, we have no way to request it, and it is not linked to any identifier. Clearing your browser data, or using private browsing, removes it permanently. There is no backup and no recovery, which is the trade for not asking you to create an account. ### Analytics Aggregate measurement only: how many people came, and which pages were useful. The site uses Google Analytics to understand overall traffic: how many visits there were, which pages were read, roughly where in the world visitors were, and whether the pages loaded quickly. It reports in aggregate and is not used to identify you. Our hosting provider also records standard request information at the network edge: the page requested, the response status, the browser type and the country. This is the equivalent of a web server log, it is what tells us which search and AI crawlers are reading the site, and it contains no name, email or account. ### Advertising Adverts pay for the hosting and the time. This is exactly what they do and do not do. No adverts run on this site today. The plan is to fund it with display advertising through Google AdSense, and the honest version of this section describes what that will mean rather than pretending it is already happening. Google and its advertising partners may then use cookies or similar technologies to serve adverts, to measure whether an advert was seen and, where you have consented, to choose adverts based on your previous visits to this and other sites. Adverts are placed around the game, never over it, and never interrupt a turn. That is a design rule, not a promise we can quietly drop: an advert covering the play area would make the site worse at the one thing it exists to do. You can opt out of personalised Google advertising at any time through Google’s Ads Settings. Blocking or deleting cookies in your browser settings works too, and the game will keep running normally if you do. ### Consent, and how to change your mind What is set today, and what changes on the day advertising starts. Right now the only non-essential cookies here belong to analytics, and there is no advertising and no consent notice. On the day adverts are switched on, visitors in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area and Switzerland will get a consent notice before any advertising cookie is set. It records your choices and can be reopened whenever you want to change them, so you are never locked into a single decision. Essential storage, the localStorage your game progress lives in, is not covered by that notice, because the site cannot function as a game without it and it never leaves your device. ### Your rights over your data Under the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR and similar laws you have rights over personal data held about you, and the honest answer here is that we hold almost none. We hold no account records, no email list and no profile of you. There is nothing on our side to export, correct or delete, because there is no database of visitors to hold it in. Where personal data is processed, it is processed by the third parties named above (Google Analytics and the advertising partners) under their own privacy policies. Requests about that data are best made to them directly, and their policies set out how. Google’s covers both its analytics and its advertising products. If you have a privacy question, or you believe something on this site is handling data incorrectly, email john.weeks.dev@gmail.com and it will be looked at properly. ### Children This is a general-audience site, not a service directed at children. The games here are traditional family games and people of all ages play them, but the site is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. Since there are no accounts and no forms, there is no route by which a child could submit personal information to us in the first place. If you believe a child has somehow provided personal information through this site, contact us and we will act on it. ### External links and changes to this policy Pages here sometimes link to other sites: source material, references, and the other sites in this network. Those sites have their own privacy policies and this one does not cover them. If this policy changes materially, the date below changes with it. Substantive changes are made to the page itself rather than announced and forgotten. **Do you sell my personal information?** No. We hold no database of visitors, so there is nothing to sell. Advertising partners operate under their own policies, and you can withdraw consent for them at any time. **Do I have to accept cookies to play?** No. Declining non-essential cookies does not affect the game. Your progress is saved in your own browser either way, and that storage never leaves your device. **How do I delete the data this site has about me?** Clear your browser data and it is gone. That is genuinely all of it on our side. There is no account to close and no record held on a server. --- ## Terms of Use Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/terms Cornhole Setup is free to use, with no account and no subscription. These terms cover what you can do with the site and what it does and does not promise. They are meant to be read, so they are written in plain English. ### Using the site Play as much as you like. There is no account to breach and no quota to exceed. You may use this site for personal, non-commercial enjoyment, and you may link to any page on it freely. No permission is needed to link, embed a link, or recommend the site. What you may not do is the obvious short list: interfere with the site or its security, attempt to disrupt it for other people, scrape it at a volume that degrades it for others, or represent it as your own. ### Reusing the rules, tables and score sheets The reference material is published so it can be reused. Attribution is the only condition. The reference data on this site (scoring charts, odds tables, printable score sheets and the computed figures behind them) is published under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. You may copy it, reprint it, teach from it and build on it, including commercially, provided you credit Cornhole Setup and link back to the page you took it from. That is a deliberate choice, not an oversight. This material was produced so people could use it; a table nobody is allowed to quote is a table that helps nobody. The site’s own software, layout, graphics and branding are not covered by that licence and remain the property of the site owner. ### Independence and trademarks cornhole is a traditional game. This site is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any commercial publisher. cornhole is played in many households and regions with local variations, and this site documents it as the traditional game it is. Where a name is also used commercially by a company, it is used here descriptively, to say which game the page is about. No affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement is claimed or implied. All trademarks referenced remain the property of their respective owners. ### What this site does not promise It is a free game, offered as it is. The site is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. It may occasionally be unavailable, a browser update may break something, and rule variations differ between regions and households, so the rules described here may not match the version played at your kitchen table. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and the site is not liable for any loss arising from its use to the extent the law allows. If you find a mistake, the useful response is to tell us so it can be corrected, and corrections are made. ### Changes and contact These terms may be updated; the date below changes when they are. Questions go to john.weeks.dev@gmail.com. **Can I print the score sheets for my games night?** Yes, that is exactly what they are for. Print as many as you like, for home, school or a club. **Can I use the odds tables in a book, video or article?** Yes, including commercially, as long as you credit Cornhole Setup and link to the page you took the figures from. **Can I copy the site itself?** No. The reference data is openly licensed; the software, design and branding are not. --- ## Contact Canonical: https://cornholesetup.com/contact Email is the way to reach a real person here: **john.weeks.dev@gmail.com**. John Weeks builds and maintains the site and reads everything sent to that address. There is no contact form, no ticket queue and no support bot. ### What to write about A one-line subject that names the page or the topic gets a faster and more useful answer. - **Rule corrections.** The most valuable reason to write. cornhole varies by region and household, so say which rule, which page, and how you play it. Specifics get acted on. - **A bug in the game.** Tell us the browser and what happened. A game that breaks in a browser update gets fixed. - **Reusing the data.** The score sheets, tables and odds are licensed for reuse with attribution. Write if you want to check how to credit it, or need a cut of the data we have not published. - **Privacy questions or requests.** See the privacy policy first. The short answer is that there is no account and no database. Write if anything is unclear. - **Press and research.** Happy to help with quotes, figures or background on the game and how the numbers were produced. ### Who you are emailing This site is built and run by John Weeks, a web developer who designs, codes and maintains every site in the network himself. John Weeks is a web developer who writes the code, the rules and the strategy content on every site in this network. There is no editorial team behind the address and no agency. Messages go to the person who can actually change the page. Replies usually come within a few days. Corrections are prioritised over everything else, because a wrong rule on a reference page is the one problem that makes the whole site less useful. **Is there a contact form?** No. These are static pages with no server behind them, so a form would have nowhere to submit to without adding a third-party service that collects more data than the rest of the site does. Email is simpler and more private. **How quickly will I get a reply?** Usually within a few days. Rule corrections and bug reports get looked at first. **I think a rule on this site is wrong. What should I include?** The page, the specific rule, and how you play it, including where you play it, since regional variants are usually the explanation. If it checks out, the page is updated and credited.