Cornhole Rules and Scoring

Cornhole can be played one-on-one or as teams. Either way, the game consists of "frames" during which the players or teams take turns tossing 4 bags. Your goal is to get the bags to land (and stay) on the board for 1 point, or better yet go into the hole for 3 points.

Throwing the Bag

You need to throw the bag without stepping past the front edge of the board, and keeping at least one foot within 3 feet of the side of the board, known as the pitcher's box. Note that you can step past the line as long as your foot does not touch the ground before you release the bag.

How to Score Cornhole

Each bag that lands on the board is worth one point, and each bag that goes into the hole is worth three points...kinda.

Net or "Substraction" Scoring

This is the tricky part: only one player scores points in each frame. Each frame of a cornhole game is scored with what's called  "cancellation scoring," "net scoring" or "subtraction scoring" that all mean whoever gets more points worth of bags in the frame is the only one who scores, and you subtract the the lower score's points from theirs.

If you get four bags on the board (4 points) and I get two bags on the board (2 points), you score two points. Similarly, if you get four bags in the hole, for 12 points, and I get 2 bags in the hole and 1 on, that's worth 7 points so you score 5.

Pushing Bags into the Hole or Off the Board

Note that it doesn't matter HOW a bag gets into the hole, or off the board. You don't count things up until after both players have thrown all four of their bags. If you knock your opponent in and go off the board yourself, they get those three points and you get the donut that missed bag earns. But if you knock their bag of while sliding into the hole yourself, congratulations!

If both players score the same number of points, it's called a "wash" and nobody scores.

Winning a Cornhole Game

When a player or team has 21 or more points at the end of a frame, they win! That means if you hit 21 or more points during a frame, but your opponent lands or sinks a bag that reduces your total to less than 21, the game continues.

As with most games played in backyards and at tailgates, some folks make up rules. The two most common "house rules" are that you need to win by two, or that you "bust" if you go past 21, and your score goes back to 11 or 15. Some people score bags hanging over the hole as two points. It's fine to play by house rules , but don't get too used to them as even at the most casual tournament they simply aren't part of the game.

Who's on which side?

In singles games the players must play from opposite sides of the board. It doesn't really matter which side, because when they finish a frame they walk to the other board staying in their lane on the same side of the board.

In doubles games the partners stand at opposite ends of the court, in the same lane. That means they're both on the same side of the boards, looking straight at each other. Since each player throws from the same side for the entire game, that side preference we talked about above can be more important, so you need a way to figure out who picks their side.

Who picks side and throws first?

Before a doubles game, players flip a coin or spin a bag to determine who gets to throw first and get to either pick 1) the side they play from or 2) which of their opponents each of them will face. Whichever of those things they pick, their opponent picks the other. For example, say the team that wins the coin flip picks their side. The other team gets to pick the matchups, i.e. who each of their players throws against.

Once the game is underway, whoever scored most recently always throws first, even if it was five frames ago.

Now that you know how to play by the rules and keep score,
let's talk about how to get better and WIN!