Most people start out by playing in their back yard or at the tailgate party of your favorite sports team.

These basic amateur cornhole rules will get you playing quickly and easily in your back yard.

Equipment

Two(2) Boards measuring 24" x 48" with a 6" diameter hole that is centered 9" from the top of the board and 12" from side to side.The front of the board should be 3-4" high from the top of the playing surface to the ground. The back of the board should be 12" from the top of the playing surface to the ground. Eight(8) bags (4 for each player of similar color). Each bag measures 6" x 6" and weight between 15-16 oz. The bags can be filled with whole kernel corn or resin pellets. The outer material can be either canvas, duck cloth, twill or synthetic sued.

Court Layout

The boards should be spaced 27 feet apart from front edge to front edge for Competitive/Pro level play and 24 feet from front edge to front edge for Amateur/Social level play. Each pitcher has a 4 foot by 3 foot area on either side of the board to pitch (toss) from. The front of the board is the foul line and may not be crossed at anytime when throwing/pitching.

Scoring

A common way to declare a winner is the first team/player to reach or exceed 21 is the winner of the game. A frame is defined as a player/team pitching all their bags to the opposite end of the court. Players must pitch all bags from the same side (pitching area) during a frame and cannot change sides. A bag that lands and remains on the board surface will count as 1 point. A bag that goes through the target hole will count as 3 points. A bag that lands on the surface and falls off or does not go through the target hole does not count any points. Cancellation scoring is a suggested method of scoring. Each team/player's points cancel out the other team/players points.

Example: Team A/Player A throws all their bags and one lands on the playing surface and one goes in the target hole. Team B/Player A throws all their bags and gets one bag on the playing surface, the final score for this frame would be Team A receives 3 points (for the bag in the target hole) and Team B receives zero points (the bag on the board cancels out Team A's bag).

Options for Playing the Game

Singles Play

Player A competes against Player B. Players will walk from one board to the other without crossing to the other side and play on that side only. Which side a player is playing on is determined at the beginning of the game by a coin flip. The winner of the coin flip gets to choose which side they will play on. Players start the game at the headboard and will alternate pitching bags until each player has pitched all four of their bags. Once all 4 bags are pitched the score is taken and the bags are then raked. Whoever scored the most in that frame shall be the first to pitch in the next frame.

Doubles Play

Team A competes against Team B – each team is made up of two people. Each team will walk from one board to the other without crossing to the other side and play on that side only. Which side a player is playing on is determined at the beginning of the game by a coin flip. The winner of the coin flip gets to choose which side they will play on. The team that starts the game will alternate pitching all of their bags until each player has pitched four of their bags. Then the second Team will alternate pitching all of their bags until each player of that team has pitched all four of their bags.

Pitching

Players alternate pitching bags, one player at a time, until each player has pitched all four of their bags from their designated pitchers box. Both feet must remain in the designated pitchers box at all times while pitching and a player may not cross the foul line with their feet before the bag has landed. Whoever scores the most in the preceding frame shall be the first to pitch in the following frame.

Raking

If bags become piled up inside the target hole of the board and can interfere or obstruct the next pitch or if there is a question whether a cornhole bag would have naturally fallen through the target hole, a player may request the bags be raked from inside the target hole.

Important Note

During raking, all efforts should be made to leave bags on the playing surface of the cornhole board is not disrupted and in their natural state. All efforts should be made to keep bags from falling inside the target hole unnaturally. If, in the event, a bag is resting on a piled bag and unavoidably falls into the target hole as a result of raking, then it shall be counted as 3 points.