Cornhole Rules - CornholeRules.org

Semi Official Cornhole Rules

1 - Layout

A Cornhole court is a rectangular area 8 ft wide and a minimum of 42 ft long. Each board is placed 27 ft away from each other. Pitcher must remain in 4x3 ft pitcher area on either side of box while tossing bag. Front edge of box acts as foul line.

2 - Pitching Distances

Pro - 27ft
Amateur (casual) - 24ft
Junior/Wheelchair - 20ft

3 - Equipment

Building the board

1. Use a 48" x 24" piece of cut-able and paint-able material.
2. Cut a 6" Cornhole in the center of the board, 9" from the top and 12" from each side.
3. The front of the board should be 3-4" from the ground, while back of the board should be about 12" from the ground.
4. Use a high gloss latex paint or varnish so that surface is slick enough for bags to slide when thrown, but not so slippery that bags slide off board.

Making Bags

The bags should be made from a durable fabric, should measure 6" x 6" and weigh approximately 15-16 ounces. The most common materials for filling bags are plastic pellets or corn.

4 - Game Play

Cornhole can be played as doubles or singles.
In doubles play one team members pitch from opposite boards. So each team has one player throwing from the left pitcher's box and one throwing from the right.

In singles play, a player competes against another player (both pitch from the same board). All other rules are the same for doubles or singles play.

Every match is broken down into frames of play. Players alternate pitching until all 8 bags have been pitched, completing the frame. The player who scored in the preceding frame shall pitch first in the next frame. If neither pitcher scores, the player who pitched first in the preceding frame shall pitch first in the next frame.

Points

Cornholes - A bag thrown through the hole in the board. A bag can be pushed in by other bags from either player.
Cornhole = 3 points.

Woody or Boarder - A bag that is not in-the-hole but lands with any portion resting on the board.
Woody or Boarder = 1 point.

If the bag touches the ground before hitting the board or lands hanging off the board while also touching the ground it is called a "Dirty." Any "Dirty" bags must be removed from play before the next bag is tossed.

Stanker or Foul Bag - Any toss that is not a Cornhole or a Woody.
Stanker or Foul Bag = 0 points.

Bags knocked into foul territory by a foul bag should be returned as closely as possible to their original position. This also applies to bags that are knocked into the hole by a foul bag.

Scoring

Traditional 21 Scoring - In this game opposing players' frame points cancel one another out. Only those points that do not cancel out apply to the total overall score. Example: Team A scores 5 points in a frame and Team B scores 6 points in the same frame. Team B scores 1 points for that frame.

Frame Game Scoring - Players try to accumulate as many points as possible over 13 frames, with the maximum amount of points being 156.

Length Of Game

Traditional 21 Game - The game is played until a team reaches 21 points at the completion of a frame. (If a team pitching first reaches or exceeds 21 points, the game is not over until the other side is allowed to pitch all of their bags to complete the frame).

Frame Game - The game is played until each team or player has pitched 13 complete frames. The winning team is the team scoring the most cumulative points out of an available 156 points. (52 of 52 Cornholes is a perfect game for a 156 total score).