Cornhole, also known as bean bag toss, baggo or bags, is a lawn game

Lawn game

A lawn game is any outdoor game that can be played on a lawn. Many games that are traditionally played on a pitch are marketed as "lawn games" for home use in a front or back yard.Common lawn games include:*Horseshoes*Lawn darts*Croquet*Cornhole*Bocce...

 in which players take turns throwing bean bags at a raised platform with a hole in the far end. These platforms are usually made with plywood

Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...

 or plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

 and are often decorated. A corn bag in the hole scores 3 points, while one on the platform scores 1 point. Play continues until a player reaches the score of 21.

Gameplay

Cornhole matches are broken down into inning

Inning

Inning is a municipality in the district of Erding in Bavaria in Germany....

s or frames of play. During each inning, every player throws four bags. A player may deliver the bag from either the left or right pitcher's box, but, in any one inning, all bags must be delivered from the same pitcher’s box. It is possible that both players can throw from the same pitcher's box. Also, the player gets a three foot box to throw in. Each player must deliver the bag within twenty seconds. The time starts when the player steps onto the pitcher’s box with the intention of pitching. The player who scored in the preceding inning pitches first in the next inning. If neither pitcher scores, the contestant or team who pitched last in the preceding inning pitches first in the next inning.

Cornhole can be played as either doubles or singles. In doubles play, four players split into two teams. One member from each team pitches from one cornhole platform and the other members pitch from the other. The first side of players alternate pitching bags until both players have thrown all four of their bags, then the players pitching from the opposing cornhole board continue to alternate in the same manner until all four of their bags are delivered and the inning or frame is completed. In singles play, two players play against each other. Delivery is handled in the same manner as doubles play. Both contestants pitch from the same cornhole platform and alternate their pitches until all of their bags have been pitched, completing the inning or frame.

Scoring

In order to score, the bags must either be tossed into the hole or land on the board. A bag that falls through the hole is worth a value of three points. The bag can be tossed directly into the hole, slide into the hole, or be knocked into the hole by another bag. A bag that lands on the board and is still on the board at the end of the inning is worth one point. If a bag touches the ground and comes to rest on the board, it is removed from the board prior to continuation of play and not worth any points. Usually, cancellation scoring is used. In cancellation scoring, bags that fall in the hole and bags that land on the board that are pitched by opponents during a frame cancel each other out. That is, if one player scores four points and the other player scores three points, the first player receives one point for the inning. In case of a tie, the team who ties the game, must go first.

A cornhole match is played until the first player or team reaches or exceeds twenty-one points at the completion of an inning. The winning team does not need to win by two or more points.

Another scoring variation requires one team to earn exactly twenty-one points; and if a team exceeds that number their team must return to fifteen points and the game continues.

History

The history of the game is mostly unknown, though stories abound. One story claims that the game was first played during the 14th century in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, then rediscovered in Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 within the last century. Many American scholars confirm that a game of very similar nature was played amongst Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 in Midwest America, who filled pig

Pig

A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...

s' bladder

Bladder

Bladder usually refers to an anatomical hollow organBladder may also refer to:-Biology:* Urinary bladder in humans** Urinary bladder ** Bladder control; see Urinary incontinence** Artificial urinary bladder, in humans...

s with dried beans and competitively tossed them for entertainment, notably, the Blackhawk tribe in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. Debate about whether the game was actually created in the Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 farmland, the tundra of Anchorage, AK or the West Side of Cincinnati, is ongoing. Popularity of the game began to increase in the late 1990s in Athens, Ohio, and East Lansing, Michigan, area universities, particularly Ohio University

Ohio University

Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...

 and Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

, where cornhole became a mainstay at parties and as a casual drinking game

Drinking game

Drinking games are games which involve the consumption of alcoholic beverages. These games vary widely in scope and complexity, although the purpose of most is to become intoxicated as quickly as possible...

.

Terminology

The following is a list of terms commonly used in a cornhole game:
Ace cow pie : A bag lands on the board, which is worth one point.
Airmail : A bag that lands directly in the hole without making any contact with other areas of the board. Sometimes referred to as "swishing".
Back door : A cornhole that goes over the top of a blocker and into the hole.
Backstop : A bag that lands past the cornhole but remains on the board creating a backboard for a slider to knock into without going off the board.
Blocker : An ace that lands in front of the hole, essentially blocking the hole from sliders.
Buckets: An exclamation made when a cornhole bag goes into the hole, or the act of throwing the bag into the hole itself. One cornhole followed by another can be called "Response Buckets."
Carlton : A toss that results in one's bag knocking an opponent's bag into the cornhole. Named for either the all-time MLB leader in balks, Steve Carlton, or the likeable character from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
Chances Double : Players call out "Chances double," when an opposing player achieves a cornhole, alluding to the impression that the next player often throws a cornhole in response to the challenge. "Chances Double" is a form of Gambler's fallacy

Gambler's fallacy

The Gambler's fallacy, also known as the Monte Carlo fallacy , and also referred to as the fallacy of the maturity of chances, is the belief that if deviations from expected behaviour are observed in repeated independent trials of some random process, future deviations in the opposite direction are...

.
Cornfusion : When players or teams cannot agree on the scoring of a given inning.
Cornhole Drāno : A bag falls in the hole, which is worth three points. The alternative name is a reference to a trademark, that of a sink clog clearing product.
Dirty bag : A bag that is on the ground or is hanging off the board touching the ground.
Dirty roll up : A point scored when the bag hits the ground before landing on the board.
Frame : A frame consists of both players throwing their 4 bags. After each player has thrown 4 bags, the score is calculated and a new frame begins. Sometimes referred to as "corn row".
Galbraith Jumanji: When a player makes all four bags into the hole during his or her turn. Can also be deemed in fractions : quarter Galbraith, half Galbraith, and three quarter Galbraith.
Gusher double deuce Catorce: Four cornholes by a single player in a single round.
Golden Sombrero : When a player makes all four bags into the hole during one round.
Hammond : When a Slider or Swish is executed and then your opponent immediately evens the score by doing the same thing. Also known as a One-Upper, or in some instances a Demoralizer.
Hanger Shook : An ace on the lip of the hole ready to drop.
Honors : The team who tosses first, resulting from the team scoring last.
Hooker : A bag hitting the board and hooking or curving around a blocker and going in the hole.
Jumper : A bag that strikes another bag on the board causing it to jump up into the cornhole.
Leprechaun : When a player attains all four bags onto the board without getting any into the hole.
Police : The cornhole referee.
Power Wash : A round in which all four bags from each opposing player land on the board, causing the round score to be zero, a wash.
Pressure Cooker : When both players on one end continually negate each others scores thus creating a very tense situation.
Sally : A toss that is thrown too weakly and lands on the ground before reaching the board.
Shucker : When a player pitches a bag and it strikes an opposing players bag knocking it off the board.
Skunk whitewash, shutout: A game that, by some rules, ends in an 11-0 score.
Slider : A cornhole that slides into the hole.
Swish: A bag that goes directly in the hole without touching the board. Sometimes this is also referred to as "air-mail".
Wash Laundry : When the scores of a single round amount to zero, the round is called a wash.
Woody : A bag that lands on the surface of the board, which is worth 1 point. Sometimes referred to as "ace" or "cow pie".