Cornhole

The game was first described in Heyliger de Windt's 1883 patent for "Parlor Quoits", which displays most of the features of modern cornhole, but uses a square hole. Quoits is a game similar to horseshoes, played by throwing steel rings at a metal spike. Several earlier "parlor quoits" patents had sought to re-create quoit gameplay in an indoor environment, but De Windt's was the first to use bean bags and a slanted board with a hole as the target. He sold the rights to the game to a Massachusetts toy manufacturer which marketed a version of it under the name "Faba Baga". Bean-bag bull's-eye was played on a board the same width as modern cornhole boards (), but only long as opposed to the length used in cornhole. The hole was the same diameter () but was centered (rather than ) from the back of the board. Each player threw two bags, weighing each, "in succession". The boards in bean-bag bull's-eye were placed "about apart for adults, for kids." Scoring was essentially the same as that used in cornhole (three points for a bag in the hole, one point for a bag remaining on the board) and also used cancellation scoring. In the Chicago area, a similar game is referred to as "bags" or "bean bags", but uses rectangular bags. The game spread in Chicago, Illinois, and the Northwest region of Indiana in the late 1970s and early 1980s, perhaps due to the Popular Mechanics article mentioned above. Cornhole as it is now known originated and gained popularity on Cincinnati's west side (near Ferguson Avenue) in the 1980s and spread to surrounding areas in Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. Tournaments The American Cornhole Organization (ACO) was established in 2005 by Frank Geers and is headquartered in Milford, Ohio. The ACO claims on its website to be the "governing body for the sport of cornhole". The American Cornhole League (ACL) was founded in 2015 by Stacey Moore. According to the ACL's website, it promotes and develops cornhole as a sport on every level, and created software and apps to manage cornhole leagues, tournaments, special events, and player development. The American Cornhole Association (ACA) is an organization whose sole mission is to help cornhole players enjoy the game of cornhole. According to its website, "[o]ne of the most important ways to achieve this goal is for people to have high-quality equipment to play on." Accordingly, the ACA is largely focused on selling cornhole-related products and equipment rather than acting as a sanctioning body of the sport; however, it does have its own rules and does sponsor events. The United Kingdom Cornhole League (UKCL) was founded in 2021 by Daniel Lilley. It promotes competitive tournaments across the United Kingdom and develops cornhole as a sport. == Rules and format ==

Equipment and court layout Cornhole matches are played with two sets of four bags (eight total), two boards and two, four, or eight players. There are four bags in a set. Each set of bags should be distinguishable from the other, usually by using different colors. The American Cornhole League's rules call for double-seamed fabric bags measuring and weighing . There are many types of shots that players use depending on the situation. The slide shot is one of the most basic shots and is when a bag lands on the bottom two thirds of the board and slides into the hole. Another shot used is the blocker bag as mentioned above along with an airmail. A more complicated shot is the bully bag where a player will push their opponent's bag away from the hole either to the left or right, while keeping their own bag in line with the hole making it difficult for the opponent to get their bag into the hole. The rolling shot is another technique that allows the player to "rollover" any bags blocking the hole such as a blocker, although this shot is more complicated. Practicing and perfecting these shots allows players to be prepared and ready for any strategies their opponents throw at them. Knowing when to utilize each shot is an important part of the game and can help aid players of all skill levels. Competitive player ranking The American Cornhole Organization ranks amateur and professional cornhole players through their World Rankings. Players are world ranked by division, including Singles, Doubles, Women, Seniors and Juniors. The American Cornhole League ranks their players based on points earned through local and regional tournaments. The points earned per tournament are based on the level of play. These levels include open, advanced, competitive, intermediate and novice with open providing the most points based on placement. Points are also used to determine the pros of the ACL. == World Cup / International competition ==

Since 2023, the World Cornhole Organization (WCO) has organised an annual international tournament, the WCO World Cup, to crown a world champion national team. As of 2025 the 2025 World Cup in Poreč featured 26 countries from four continents, making it the largest Cornhole World Cup in history. The establishment of the WCO and its World Cup marks a shift of Cornhole from a regional pastime — especially in North America — toward a structured, global competition with standardized rules and growing international participation. == Terminology ==

The following is a list of terms commonly used in cornhole: • Airmail: a bag that does not slide or bounce on the board but goes directly into the hole, usually over an opponent's blocker bag. • Back door, jumper, dirty rollup: a bag that goes over the top of a blocker and into the hole. • Backstop: a bag that lands past the hole but remains on the board creating a backboard for a slider to knock into without going off the board. • Cornfusion: when players or teams cannot agree on the scoring of an inning. • Hammer: when one or more hangers (see below) are around the hole, a hammer can be used; a hammer is a bag thrown as an airmail bag with a high arc in an attempt to move hanger bags into the hole along with it. • Hanger: a bag on the lip of the hole close to falling in. • Honors: the player or team who tosses first, resulting from the team scoring in the previous inning or winning the coin toss before the first inning. • Hooker: a bag that hits the board and while hooking or curving around a blocker goes into the hole. • Jumper: a bag that strikes another bag on the board causing it to jump up and into the hole. • Push, wash: when each player or team obtains an identical score in an inning resulting in no overall score change. • Short bag: when a bag lands on the ground just before the board. • Skunk, whitewash, shutout: a game that ends in a score of 21 (or more) to zero; by some unofficial rules a game may be called once a shutout score of at least 11–0 is reached. • Slide, slider: a bag that lands in front of the hole and slides in. • Swish: a bag that goes directly in the hole without touching the board (see also: "airmail"). • Woody: any bag that has been pitched and remains on the board's surface at the end of the inning (scoring one point). == See also ==