Cornhole is played to 21, and only one side scores in each frame: a bag left on the board (a woody) is worth 1 point, a bag through the hole (a cornhole) is worth 3, and the lower frame total cancels out of the higher one. So if your bags make 7 and your opponent's make 2, you score 5 and they score nothing.
Everything on this page comes from the American Cornhole Organization's official rules, as of November 2026. I've written it for garden games, barbecues and office days out rather than sanctioned events, so where the official rules lean on referees and strikes, I've said how that translates when it's just you and your mates.
How cornhole works in a minute
Two boards face each other down a court. Each player or team has four bags in one colour. You take turns pitching one bag at a time at the far board until all eight bags have been thrown; that's a frame. Then you add up each side's bags, cancel one total against the other, and only the difference goes on the scoreboard.
The official rules say the first player or team to reach or exceed 21 at the end of a frame wins. That's it. The rest of this page is the detail that stops arguments: measurements, how a frame runs, and what makes a bag dead.
Court, board and bag measurements
The official rules set these figures for the court and for approved boards and bags. You won't need a tape measure for every line in the garden, but it's worth knowing what regulation looks like.
| What | Official measurement |
|---|---|
| Court | 8 feet wide and 40 feet long |
| Distance between boards | 27 feet, front edge to front edge |
| Pitcher's box | 4 feet by 3 feet, on both sides of each board (four boxes in all) |
| Board playing surface | 47.5 to 48 inches by 23.5 to 24 inches |
| Hole | 6 inches in diameter, centred 9 inches from the top |
| Board height | Front edge 3 to 4 inches off the ground, back 12 inches |
| Bag weight | 15.75 ounces (447g) to 16.25 ounces (461g) |
| Bag thickness | Between 1.125 and 1.5 inches lying flat |
Bags are filled with plastic resin or beads and should be one primary colour. One detail people don't expect: all four bags in a game have to be the same series from the same manufacturer, so you can't mix a light set with a heavy one and call it fair.
Scoring with cancellation, worked through
A woody is any bag that's still on the board's playing surface when the frame ends, worth 1 point. A cornhole is a bag that goes through the hole, worth 3 points. The official rules use cancellation scoring: the points of one side cancel out the points of the other, so only one side can score in a frame.
Here's the worked example the rules sheet itself uses:
- Red finishes the frame with one woody and two cornholes. That's 1 plus 3 plus 3, so Red has 7 points on the board.
- Blue finishes with two woodies, so Blue has 2 points.
- Cancel the smaller total from the bigger one: 7 take away 2 leaves 5.
- Red adds 5 to the scoreboard. Blue adds nothing for that frame.
The catch that surprises new players: if both sides make 7, the frame scores nothing for anybody. A brilliant frame from both of you can leave the scoreboard exactly where it was.
The other one: nothing in the official rules describes a 'bust' or a need to land exactly on 21. You win by reaching or exceeding 21 at the end of a frame, so a side sitting just below 21 that scores a big frame simply wins. If someone at your party insists you have to hit 21 exactly, that's a house rule, not the official one.
How a frame runs, step by step
- Both players start at the same end, one in the pitcher's box on each side of the board.
- You alternate, one bag at a time, until each of you has pitched all four.
- Every bag is released underhand, with one foot completely inside the pitcher's box.
- You can't touch the ground on or beyond the foul line, which is the front edge of the board, before your bag has landed on the opposite board. Doing so is a foot foul.
- You've got 15 seconds to pitch once your opponent's bag has come to rest.
- The frame is scored 5 seconds after the last bag lands. A bag that moves after those 5 seconds is scored from its previous position.
- Whoever scored pitches first in the next frame. If nobody scored, the side that pitched first keeps first pitch.
Fouls, dead bags and the 12-point penalty
The official rules call these foul bags. A foul bag is a dead bag: it's removed and it can't score.
- A bag thrown from the wrong pitcher's box.
- A bag that bounces off the ground before coming to rest on the board.
- A bag left resting so it touches both the ground and the board.
- A bag that hits an object on its way, such as a tree limb or a wire.
The one that starts arguments in gardens: a bag that touches the ground first is dead, even if it then slides up onto the board. It looks like a woody. It isn't.
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Touching bags that are sitting in scoring positions before the frame is complete is treated harshly. The offending side forfeits its remaining bags, and the other side counts 12 points for that frame, as if it had thrown 4 cornholes, before cancellation. The 12 isn't added to the scoreboard on its own; it's only used inside that frame.
In ACO events a Certified Official gives a warning first, then a 1st strike, then a 2nd strike, and a third offence forfeits the match. You won't have a referee in the garden, but you can borrow the dead bag idea without one: agree before the first frame that a ground-first bag comes off.
Two smaller rules round it off. Each side gets two timeouts of up to one minute per game, called only on your own turn. And if bags pile up in the hole, you can ask aloud for a rake: one player rakes the bags out while the other watches.
Singles and doubles
In singles, each player keeps the same lane for the whole game. You both pitch your 4 bags alternately from one end, walk to the other board, tally the frame, and pitch back.
In doubles, it's teams of two with one partner at each board, so frames alternate between the two ends. If you're planning a bigger get-together around it, my list of party games for a crowd has more ideas, and the carnival games roundup suits a fete or school fair where cornhole is one stall among several.
My verdict for backyard games
I'd teach three things before the first bag: a woody is 1, a cornhole is 3, and only the difference counts. I'd pace out 27 feet between the front edges, because it's the official distance and the easiest one to pace out, and I'd agree the ground-first dead bag rule up front, because that's the one that otherwise ends in a row. I'd skip strikes, timeouts and raking until your group wants something closer to league play; they're there for events with officials. And if the weather turns, a good dice game keeps the same crowd at the table.
Frequently asked questions
How many points do you play to in cornhole?
The traditional game is played to 21 points. The first side to reach or exceed 21 at the end of a frame wins, with no need to land exactly on 21.
How far apart are cornhole boards?
The official rules put the boards 27 feet apart, measured from front edge to front edge, on a court 8 feet wide and 40 feet long.
What is a woody in cornhole?
A woody is a bag that stays on the board's playing surface at the end of the frame. It's worth 1 point.
Does a bag touching the ground count?
No. A bag that touches the ground before coming to rest on the board is a dead bag, and so is a bag resting on both the ground and the board.
