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The Rise of the Lawn Cornhole Sport

Will Brown by Will Brown, April 10, 2025

Cornhole board and bean bags

The last 10 years have seen an array of unconventional sports report a surprising surge in popularity, not least of these is the cornhole sport. From its humble origins as a friendly lawn sport, cornhole has evolved into a national spectacle that has created a competitive professional league, world-class players, and live television coverage. In this guide, we’ve tracked the remarkable rise of cornhole and the modern infrastructure that supports its professional play and broadcasting.

Is Cornhole a Sport?

While it may be considered a novelty pastime by critics, cornhole is now very clearly a competitive sport. To demonstrate its rise to becoming a national phenomenon, we have begun this article by tracing the history of cornhole.

To help total newcomers understand what the game entails, we’ve then outlined the rules and gameplay of cornhole, before discussing the rise of competitive competitions. To round out the guide, we’ve shared some surprising figures and statistics about its audience and participation as well as some interesting trivia about cornhole.

The History of Cornhole

While the answer to “When was cornhole invented?” is complicated, there are several theories. One theory is that a predecessor of the game was invented in the 14th century by a German cabinetmaker, Matthias Kaupermann. The idea for the game after he noticed village children throwing stones into a hole in the ground.

He then divided to create an alternative that would be less dangerous, crafting a rudimentary board and canvas sacks for the children to throw. Another theory credits the Native American Blackhawks tribe of Illinois, who were known to play a similar game throwing animal bladders filled with beans.

The final theory credits German inventor Heyliger de Windt’s 1883 game “Parlor Quoits” as being a prototype, a game that used bean bags thrown into a slanted board. In any case, the 20th century saw the game become popular in the Midwest, taking root in Cincinnati in particular.

So why is it called cornhole? Because of its Midwestern popularity, the throwing bags were often filled with corn kernels. While the game maintained regional appeal until the 2000s, its popularity soon spread through other states, with its simple setup and accessibility to all physicalities and ages being a huge draw.

Then, in 2005, the American Cornhole Organization (ACO) was established, which created the first formalized rules and tournament structure. When ESPN aired the organization’s championship tournament in 2017, the sport reached a new audience, and it steadily built its following before exploding in popularity during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

How to Play Cornhole

Cornhole is played using two angled two-foot-by-four-foot wooden boards that each feature a six-inch diameter hole positioned nine inches from the top. The boards are positioned 27 feet apart from front edge to front edge. Two teams compete, with either one, two, or four players per team. To begin, competing players stand in the pitching area next to the boards.

Teams then take turns throwing four bags per round to the opposite board with an underhand toss. Players on both teams alternate turns until their four bags are tossed. If a bag lands on the board, it earns one point. If a bag enters the “corn hole”, teams earn three points. A bag that lands on the floor or bounces on the board receives no points.

Once all eight bags are thrown in the round by both teams, the score difference is calculated and the highest-scoring team earns those points. The first team to score 21 points wins, though this can change in some tournaments. Still wondering, “Is cornhole a sport?”

There are various techniques used by professional cornhole players, including “airmail”, which is a direct shot into the hole, and a “push”, which is the moving up of bags into scoring positions near the hole. The team that won points in the previous round throws first in the next, maintaining their strategic advantage.

The Rise of Competitive Cornhole

While for most of the history of cornhole, the sport remained a backyard novelty, this all changed during the 2010s. With the American Cornhole Organization (ACO) leading the way in creating a structured competition, the first American Cornhole League (ACL) emerged in 2015 and partnered with manufacturer AllCornhole to license regulation equipment.

This then spurred the establishment of the ACL Teams division, which is composed of sixteen teams divided into four regions within two divisions, the American and National. In 2016 the ACL streamed its first competitive event “Championship of Bags” on the online-only service ESPN3. Owing to its grassroots success, the sport was then aired on ESPN2 the following year.

This culminated in the airing of the ACL Championships on ESPN in 2017, which then gained coverage on NBC Sports and CBS Sports. To this day, games are routinely streamed on ESPN+, network ESPN channels, and through the ACL’s online live streams. For some time, the popularity of the sport steadily grew, but it saw a huge boost during the pandemic.

While traditional sports were stymied by the lockdown restrictions, cornhole flourished due to its outdoor playability and already-sanctioned social distancing rules. As participation surged, so too did attendance and viewership, and the sport is now at the peak of its popularity.

Major Cornhole Events

With more than 25,000 ACL events held each year, there are plenty of opportunities to view, attend, or even play cornhole. At the highest level are the National Pro Tour competitions, with the Pro Shootout tournament being among the most prestigious. This is a series of eight events held throughout the season in both American and National Divisions.

The events include Pro Men Singles, Pro Women Singles, and Pro Doubles competitions. Each event uses a 12-round single-elimination format. The top two teams in each of the four regions then advance to the single-elimination playoffs at the annual ACL World Championships, with prize pools now exceeding $700,000.

The World Championships is a multi-day event that attracts the most skilled players in the United States. However, in 2019, the ACL established USA Cornhole to lobby for the game’s Olympics inclusion. As a part of this campaign, the organization is attempting to expand the cornhole sport internationally.

In 2024, the World Cornhole Organization hosted the European Championships and the Cornhole World Cup, as well as facilitating official league involvement in Germany, Canada, India, Australia, Italy, and many more nations. Although the US continues to dominate the sport, it is only a matter of time before the sport’s international appeal creates a more competitive field.

Surprising Figures and Statistics

According to the American Cornhole League (ACL), there are roughly 50 million casual cornhole players in the world. The ACL alone has reported 200,000 players in the league, though only a small percentage of these are professionals. Several reliable income streams have bolstered the ACL’s standing.

These include the cornhole equipment market, which is expected to reach $250 million per year by 2032. The ACL also generates income through its sponsorship deals with brands such as Johnsonville, Bush’s Beans, and Twisted Tea, as well as through media rights and licensing deals.

The more that viewership increases, so too do the league’s fortunes. Depending on the event, between 50,000 and 2 million people have been reported to watch, with the World Championships drawing the largest crowds. This has also seen the total prize pool reach $8 million in 2024, with top players able to earn six figures for successful seasons.

Fun Facts and Trivia

With the question, “Is cornhole a sport?” long since answered, we want to share some interesting facts and trivia about the sport. Firstly, while the name “cornhole” has its origins in the bags being filled with corn kernels, modern throwing bags now contain a mixture of corn and resin pellets.

As for staggering achievements, in 2024 Osman Gürcü of Turkey beat the world record for the longest cornhole shot, throwing a bag underhand across a basketball court to land it from 85 feet 3.6 inches. Matthew Grear of the United States has also set some commendable records, making a blindfolded shot at 54 feet 7 inches and a backward shot from 44 feet 10 inches.

And to prove that even the wholesome game of cornhole isn’t immune to scandal, in 2022 the cornhole world was rocked by the “BagGate” incident. At the World Championships of that year, player Devon Harbaugh accused rivals Mark Richards and Philip Lopez of using bags smaller than regulation size during the finals.

Officials then checked to inspect their bags and found them to be too small. However, in a surprising twist, Harbaugh’s team’s bags were then inspected and found to be non-compliant too. Officials determined that the error wasn’t intentional and allowed play to continue.

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