How-to Score Cornhole

Cornhole has no doubt come a long way to the popular game it is today. The game has now been accepted as a professional sport being played competitively in national leagues as well as local leagues. Everyone interested in playing the game needs to understand the rules and skills especially those involving scoring. Let us look at the scoring process from the basics

Cornhole Scoring

For a player to get a score, they need to toss the bag on the board or inside the hole that is on the raised side of the board. Players have 4 bags for every round, which is commonly referred to as an inning. When the bag goes through the hole, the player who tossed it will get three points. When throwing for a three-point score, you can throw the bag directly into the hole or slide it onto the board and into the hole. Also, you will score three points if you throw a bag on the board and knock any bag on the board into the hole.

Any bag that is still on the board when the inning is done will score one point. Scoring is conducted through cancellation. This means that if player x or team x scores 8 points and team y scores 5 points, team x has 3 points. Play should go on until one team or one player reaches 21 points.

The cancellation process works in such a way that the difference between the points scored by the teams or the players is awarded to the team that scored the highest points in that inning. This simply means that only one team will score points in any inning. For instance, if one team gets 1 bag in the hole and two on the board, they score 5 points, and the other team has 2 in the hole and none on the board, their score will be 6. In the cancellation, the difference between the two teams is 1 point and it will be awarded to the team with 6 points. Meaning that from that inning, they will have scored one point.

Since only one team can get points from an inning, it means that ties are impossible and only one team can reach 21 points at a time. The game continues until one team reaches 21 points. At the professional level, cornhole players can slide all 4 bags into the hole using different strategies. There are also defensive skills that are employed to slow down a game and force opponents into a corner of tough decisions. There are different rules but most people use official cornhole scoring rules… Some rules use a strict 21-points win where the players or teams need to score exactly 21 points to win the game. If they exceed 21 points, they are taken back to 15 points, taken back to their previous score, and one point deducted in some rules. In another variation, if a team exceeds 21 points thrice before their opponents reach the 21 points, they are declared game-winners.

Now you have an idea of how to score cornhole… go out and have fun with friends and family as you play cornhole. Who knows, you might even become a pro cornhole player.