Corn-Bag Toss Rules of Play

The Answers You Need

Corn-Bag Toss Rules: FAQ

GAME SETUP

The court consists of two boxes facing each other with the short sides to the front. The hole centers should be 30 feet apart.
A line, imaginary or marked, extends out from each side of the front of the box. This is the foul line that a player must not cross when pitching a bag.

Play can consist of two people (singles) or four people (doubles). In doubles play there are two teams in which the two people consisting of a team stand facing each other at opposite ends of the court beside each box.
Each team (singles or doubles) will have four bags of one color with the other team having four bags of another color.
A determination of what team goes first shall be made in any civilized way agreed upon by the players.
Play starts at one end of the court with the team going first pitching two bags, one at a time, at the opposite box. After the two bags are pitched the other team pitches two bags followed by the team going first pitching their last two bags and finally the team going second pitching their last two bags. After all of the bags are pitched that concludes a round.
Any bag that hits the ground and bounces or rolls up on the box must be removed before another bag is pitched. Any bag that lands on the box, after a pitch when a player’s foot crossed the foul line, shall be removed before another bag is pitched.
At the conclusion of a round the points are determined and the team with the most points for the round will go first, pitching to the other box at the other end of the court. If no points are scored, the same team that pitched first in the round will continue first in the next round.
The game is played until one team reaches 21 or more points at the conclusion of a round. The game can not end in the middle of a round.

The score for each round is determined at the conclusion of the round.
Bags resting on the board and not touching the ground shall count as one point and bags that go through the hole shall count as three points.
The cancellation scoring method is used meaning that a net score is tabulated for each round. For example if each team has one bag on the board following a round, those points would cancel each other out and no points would be awarded. Or if one team has a total of four points and the other team has one point for the round, the net score would be three for the team having the most points. The points at the end of each round are added to a team’s total score.

To play a quicker version of the game you can count every point scored with no points cancelling each other. When you play this version the first team to 21, while leading by at least two points, wins. If a team reaches 21 points and is not leading by at least two points, play continues until a person or team finishes a round with a two point lead.
One other fun way to play is by making a team finish a round with exactly 21 points. In this game a team does not have to win by two points but finish with exactly 21 points. All eight bags must be pitched in the round even if a team reaches 21 in the middle of a round. If a team member does not want to pitch a bag to land on the box, they must pitch the bag to at least cross their foul line. If a team finishes the round with more than 21 points, they start the next round at 13 points, trying to work their way back to 21. There is no limit as to how many times a team could have to start over at 13 points.

As with any of Grandpa’s Games, the most important rule of all is to play with good sportsmanship, enjoy and CAPTURE THE SPIRIT OF FUN!