Cornhole

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People taking cornhole to its limits

Cornhole (or Corn hole) is a 'sport' where two people take turns trying to throw a bean bag into a box with a hole in it. Does it sound very exciting? No. But there are some beer-guzzling, Trump-supporting, diehard Midwesterni who think otherwise (see image).

Origins

Although the true beginning of cornhole is disputed, historians at the University of Corn State in Corn City, New Corn can trace it down to June 1998 when a random dude named Joe built a couple boards with holes in them, and used DVDs of the movie Batman & Robin as a substitute for bean bags (practically worthless at the time) [the DVDs, not the bean bags].

His nosy neighbor, Frank, noticed Joe playing cornhole with Joe's best friend Jim through drunken rambling (a lot of Busch Lights were drunken that day). Frank then told his wife, Sally, who told her son, Mike, who biked to his friend Zach's house and told him about it, who told his crush, Michelle, who told their dad, Paul, who told their grandpa, Bob, who told his secret other grandson William, who called the NBC network executive, James, and after the 6:00 news, everyone in America knew about this wonderful new sport and were pleased. Except for Joe, who meant it as a hobby at the time.

Rules and gameplay

Equipment

This beer is commonly used when setting up cornhole games

To set up a standard game of cornhole, you need the following:

• Two boards with a stand and a hole towards the lifted end
• Four bean bags, which should be of differentiating colors
• 2-8 players
• A six pack of whatever beer you'd like

Gameplay

In order to score, the player must throw a bean bag into the opponent's hole. It is counted as one point if the bean bag hits the surface of the board, three points if it falls, slides, or is pushed in, and negative 99,999,999 points if the bean bag misses.

It is not agreed on what a player has to score in order to win the game, but its standard for it to end at 15 for 2-4 player games, and 21 for 4-8 player games. Some games have to make the players get to EXACTLY 21 points. If they don't, different punishments are used, such as torture, death, or having to watch the dreaded 2 Girls 1 Calculus Equation (believe me, you do NOT want to go through that).

Strategies

Many god-tier cornhole players have different strategies when it comes to playing the games. Derek Adams "The Backyard GOAT" Nojob, after winning the 2025 Cornhole Championships in Midwestville, Iowa, when asked on the technique he uses, says,

"I don't know, just throw?"

Since then, many wannabe players have lived by that rule, and have seen outstanding increase in their performance, and is considered to be the best sports quote in history.

Legacy

Scandals

Many famous players have been involved in cornhole scandals. Phillip Cantreallyplay, winner of the 2009, 2012, and 2015 Cornhole Championships, was disqualified in the 2017 CCs because it was revealed he was using his more talented identical twin, John, to cover for him. Another example is Keith Collegefootball, who was stripped of his award after the 2021 CCs due to his friend, Xavier Accomplice filling the bean bags with extremely magnetic beads, and hiding behind a box controlling the way the bean bags move with a magnet.

Other players have been disqualified for the following reasons:

• Performance-enhancing drugs
• Drunkenness
• Soberness
• Dying of type 2 diabetes (only if the player does it intentionally)
• Not being from the Midwest

Terminology

NOTE: These have been adjusted for accents of regular cornhole players. Credit to Wikipedia for words.

• Airmale: 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 doh, jumper, dirty rollup: a bag that goes over the top of a blocker and into the hole.
• Bahckstahp: 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.
• Blockah: a bag that lands in front of the hole, blocking the hole from an opponent's slide shot.
• Bustin': an unofficial rule that sends a player's score back down to a predetermined number if their score at the end of an inning exceeds 21.
• Cohnfoosion: when players or teams cannot agree on the scoring of an inning.
• Co'nhoe: a bag that falls in the hole and is worth three points.
• Durt bahg: a bag that is on the ground or is hanging off the board and touching the ground.
• Fraim: an inning, a single round during which a player or team and their opponent(s) all throw their bags.
• Fohr-baggah: when a single player gets four bags in the hole in a single round. The bags can be knocked or pushed in by a player as well as their opponent as long as all four of the player's bags go in the hole.
• Grand bahg: when a player makes all four bags in the hole directly, one after another, during an inning; differs from a four-bagger in that a bag is not later knocked from the board's surface into the hole during the inning.
• Flop bahg, floppy bag: type of toss that does not spin the bag horizontally or vertically, a bag without rotation or spin.
• Hammah: 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.
• Hangah: a bag on the lip of the hole close to falling in.
• Honoors: 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.
• Hookah: a bag that hits the board and while hooking or curving around a blocker goes into the hole.
• Jumpah: a bag that strikes another bag on the board causing it to jump up and into the hole.
• Poosh, wash: when each player or team obtains an identical score in an inning resulting in no overall score change.
• Shoht bahg: when a bag lands on the ground just before the board.
• Skoonk, whitwash, 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, slidah: a bag that lands in front of the hole and slides in.
• Sweesh: a bag that goes directly in the hole without touching the board (see also: "airmail").
• Woodeh: any bag that has been pitched and remains on the board's surface at the end of the inning (scoring one point).
• ZZZ: what someone would do after writing an essay on cornhole.