See American Corn Hole’s (ACO) OFFICIAL RULES FOR THE SPORT OF CORNHOLE with plan and dimensions for board. See American Cornhole Association’s page here for details on the boards and bags.
The Bags can be made with these instructions and the board with these.
From Midwest Bean Bag Association
Bean Bag Toss Game Rules
Boxes are placed 30 feet apart from center of hole to center of hole.
Rules for Players:
- The bean bag toss game can be played with 2 or 4 players.
- Each team gets 4 bean bags to throw.
- When 4 players are used, team members stand at opposite ends and may throw from either side of the box.
- Each player throws from behind the front of the boxes. This is the foul line. The player must not pass the foul line or the players throw does not count and the bag is removed from play.
- Each team alternates shots beginning with the team that had scored last.
- Scoring is as follows:
- Points are scored when a player has a bag on the board or in the hole.
- Only one team can score per round. Therefore points cancel each other.
- A point scored on the board is equal to 1 point, a point scored in the hole is equal to 3 points.
An example of cancellation is as follows: Team one has 2 bags in the hole and 1 bag on the board equalling 7 points (3 pts. + 3 pts. + 1 pt. = 7 pts). Team two has 1 bag in the hole and 1 bag on the board equalling 4 points (3 pts. + 1 pt. = 4 pts.). The lowest score is subtracted from the highest score to get the points earned for team one (7pts. – 4 pts. = 3pts.). Team one earns 3 points in this round and gets to throw first in the next round.
Game is played until one team scores 21 points. A team can win by a white wash which is 11 – 0. A white wash can not occur in the first half of the first round. (all 4 bags in the hole by player 1 of team 1 and only 1 point or zero points by player 1 of team 2)
A bag that is tossed in play and knocks another bag off or in the hole is legal.
A bag that bounces from the ground onto the board is not a legal play. This bag must be removed from the board and play is then continued.
Variations for recreational play
Each team gets 3 bean bags to throw.
To speed play, one team member may throw all four(or three) bags first, and the opposing team may throw their bags next.
Other scoring rules found are:
Points are scored when a player has a bag on the board or in the hole.
Only one team can score points per round because points cancel each other out.
A bag put on the board = 1 point
A bag put in the hole = 3 points
The maximum amount of points scored in a single round is 12 points. (4 bags from the same team in the hole) An example of cancellation of points is if one team has 1 bag in the hole and 3 bags on the board and the other team has 2 bags in the hole and none on the board. 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 + 3 + 0 + 0. If this were to happen in a game the resulting round would be called a wash and the first team to throw in the last round would throw again in the next round.
The game is over when one team scores 21 points, but the winning team must win by 2 points.
A bag that hits another players bag or any other bag is legal and still in play. If a player throws a bag and the result is that it hits the other players bag in the hole, the bag in the hole counts as such. If a player knocks another players bag off of the board, that bag stays off of the board.
A bag that hits the ground for any reason is considered dead. If a bag bounces and lands on the board it is dead and must be removed from the board before play may continue.
