Cornhole Building

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Official Cornhole Rules

The official rules of cornhole are most often used for American Cornhole Organization (ACO) official tournaments and cornhole leagues. Having a set of rules is important to maintain standards and ensure that everyone plays the same (and plays fair).

If you’re just planning on playing cornhole at a tailgate or in your backyard, you can use these rules as a guideline. In such situations your main goal is to have fun, so feel free to adjust some of the rules to make the game enjoyable for everyone playing.

If you’re getting competitive, thought, here are the rules you should follow. You can read the full set of rules.

Cornhole Dimensions

Assuming you came here looking for the official rules of cornhole, you probably already have a set of cornhole boards. If you’ve bought them (or are planning to buy them), they probably already came in the proper size. We also provide plans and instructions to build cornhole boards. With the right size boards, the cornhole court is easy to set up.

Cornhole Board Dimensions

These are the standard cornhole board dimensions:

• Surface: 24”x48”
• Front: 3” from ground
• Rear: 12” from ground
• Hole:
  • 6” diameter
  • Center: 12” from sides, 9” from back edge

Cornhole Bag Dimensions and Weight

Each cornhole game needs eight (8) bags, four (4) for each team (different colors, obviously). Cornhole bags should be:

• 6”x6”
• 15-16oz

Cornhole Court Distance

Setting up a cornhole court is easy. When setting up an official tournament or league match, we suggest using a tape measure. If it’s less official, you can pace it out with ~3 foot steps. The cornhole court specifications are:

• Cornhole Boards opposite each other, 27 feet front-to-front (or about 9 paces)
• Cornhole Pitchers Boxes on either side of each board, 4 feet by 3 feet (48”x36”)
• Corn Hole Pitching Foul Lines are even with the front edge of the board, players are not allowed to step over the lines while pitching bags

Cornhole Scoring

Traditionally, cornhole is played until a team reaches a score of 21 points*, and wins the game. Points are totalled at the end of each round (without exception). Here’s how to score cornhole.

Points

There are two types of points a player can score in cornhole:

• A Woody is when a cornhole bag lands and rests on top of the cornhole bag. Woodys are worth one (1) point
• A Cornhole is when a bag is thrown through the hole in the cornhole board. Cornholes are worth three (3) points

Totalling and Canceling Cornhole Points

At the end of each round, bags are scored and their points totalled. Only one team receives points each round. The team that scored the most points subtracts their opponents bags from their score for the round, and the difference is their final round score. This is called Point Cancellation. If teams score the same amount of bags, the score is “washed” and no teams receive points for the round.

For example, if team A lands two Woodys (2 points) and one Cornhole (3 points), for a total of 5. Team B lands one Woody (1 point) and two Cornholes (6 points) for a total of 7. Team B (with the most points landed) would subtract Team A’s score from the round, for a round finish of two points.

Teams

Two teams play a time in cornhole. In Singles, two players play against each other, alternating throws during a round, and alternating boards between each round. In Doubles, teammates stand opposite of each other and stay at their board the entire game.

Pitching

Players will take turns pitching bags during the round. Pitchers must stay inside their pitchers boxes while throwing, otherwise the bag is disqualified. Cornhole bags must be thrown underhanded. Whichever team scored the last points will throw first in following rounds.

*It is often common for games to be played to exactly 21 points. Should a team exceed this number, they would drop back to 15. This is not part of the official rules, but is often used to extend games and add a bit of strategy to winning.