Tailgate Party Ideas: Cornhole Game Review

Tailgating prior to sporting events, like MLB baseball games, NFL football games and NCAA events, has become a very popular American tradition in recent years, especially in the Midwest.

A tailgate party is a chance to gather with friends, family and coworkers at the stadium before the game starts and have one or two beers, some BBQ or grilled burgers and hot dogs and some laughs. Good times are had by all.

If you want to host an unforgettable tailgate party, but don't know how, you have come to the right place. You will need food, beer, soda, seating and of course, entertainment. Tailgate games are the best way to entertain your guests prior to the start of the sporting event and keep the atmosphere active and lively.

Some of the best games for tailgating include Ladder Ball, Washers and Cornhole.

Cornhole ( also know as Baggs, Baggo, bean bag toss) is an easy, yet enjoyable, game that is extremely popular in the tailgating and college community. The game is simple to set up, learn and play and can be enjoyed by anyone from toddlers to teenagers to adults, making it a lot of fun for family tailgate parties.

2 - 4 Players
2 Cornhole Boards
8 Cornhole Bags
1 Set of Cornhole Rules

* If only 2 players are competing each game, you will only need 1 Cornhole Board

Setup:

In terms of pieces, there isn't much to Cornhole, but the game is somewhat bulky.

An official Cornhole board should be 2' x 4' so be sure to leave enough space in your car for the game when packing for your tailgate party.

Once you arrive at the stadium, it doesn't take long to get the game set up and the fun can start right away.

To set up Cornhole, you simply place the two Cornhole boards 27 feet apart from each other (front to front) on a flat surface. A stadium parking lot works perfectly, but a flat grass area will do just fine.

If kids are playing, feel free to move the boards closer together, unless you are a real stickler for the rules.

If two people from your tailgate party are playing Cornhole, they will simply stand 27 feet from the board with 4 Cornhole bags a piece.

If four people are playing (two teams of 2), one person from each team stands behind each Cornhole board and one set of team members will start with the Cornhole bags in the first round.

Cornhole is played in rounds, where one player/team will start the round by tossing their first Cornhole bag. Throws then alternate between the players/teams.

Once all the Cornhole bags have been tossed, the score for the round is recorded and added to the total score of the Cornhole game.

Whichever player/team scores points in the previous round starts the tossing in the consecutive round.

The first player/team to accumulate 21 points is the winner of that Cornhole game.

In the odd case where a tie occurs in Cornhole, a final round will need to be played. Rounds continue until one player/team scores.

Scoring in Cornhole:

The scoring in Cornhole, like most tailgate games, is fairly simple and straight forward.

In order to score a point or points, the player/team must toss their Cornhole bag onto the surface of the board or into the cutout hole near the back of the board.

In order for the bag to count, it must be sitting entirely on the board or hanging off the board but not touching the adjacent ground, therefore bags that fall off or are knocked off, which is encouraged in Cornhole, will not count toward the final round score.

In Cornhole, a bag that lands on the general surface of the board is worth 1 point. A bag that is tossed through the hole in the back of the board is worth 3 points.

A Cornhole bag touching the ground or a bag that bounces from the ground to the board is worth 0 points.

At the end of the round, the points are counted. The player/team with the higher score in the round adds the difference of the two scores to their total score for the game.

For example: If one team tosses 2 of their bags on the surface and 1 of their bags in the hole, they score 5 points. If the other team tosses only 2 of their bags on the surface, they have only scored 2 points. Therefore, the team who scored a total of 5 points in the round adds 3 points to their cumulative Cornhole game score.

Crazy for Cornhole? You Will Be!

Cornhole is an awesome choice for tailgating because the games don't last too long and they can be casually enjoyed while continuing conversation with all of your guests.

If there are people at your tailgate party who haven't played before, they can learn the rules pretty quickly, and with such a simple set up and concept, almost anyone can succeed at Cornhole in no time at all.

Once the games are done, or the sporting event is about to begin, Cornhole can be cleaned up in only a minute or two and be packed and ready to go before you know it.

Before your next tailgate party, you should definitely consider purchasing a Cornhole game either online or at your local sporting good stores.

Check out some of the Amazon links above or the official Cornhole site. You are sure to find the perfect Cornhole game for you.

Happy Tailgating!