The beauty of cornhole is its simplicity.
Whether you’re looking to teach young kids an easy-to-follow game, or you’re looking for a game to play with a few beers, cornhole is a fantastic option.
The only thing that requires a little thought is keeping score!
In this quick guide, we’ll describe how you can score points throughout the game play and how to keep score to determine the winning team at the end!
How Do You Score in Cornhole?
If you’re new to the cornhole rules, you may think that, to score, you have to get it through the hole.
While the hole is the most critical aspect of cornhole scoring, it is not the only way to win points.
Just getting the cornhole bag onto the board is sometimes enough to beat your opponent!
Here are all the ways you can score in cornhole, and how many points you’ll gain for each:
- Throw a cornhole bag in the hole – 3 points
- Throw a bag that lands on any part of the board (also known as a ‘woody’ or a ‘bag in-the-count’) – 1 point
- Your bag being knocked into the hole by another bag – 3 points
If your bag lands on the cornhole board and then gets knocked in by you or another cornhole player, it counts as a hole scored. Similarly, if one of your landed bags gets knocked off the board during play – or falls by its own accord – you will lose the 1 point you attained for landing on the board.
If you miss the board entirely, your pitch will be considered out-of-the-count and will not score you any points.
Given that a cornhole game is constantly in play, it would be best to count team scores after the round has finished.
This way, you can judge which bags score and which bags are out-of-the-count.
Once you have determined how many points each team has attained, you carry out cancellation scoring.
How Does Cancellation Scoring Work?
Just because you scored two bags, doesn’t mean you attain 6 points for your team.
Once a round has finished, and all eight bags have been pitched, you calculate how many points the winning team gets to add to their total score through cancellation.
Cancellation works by subtracting the losing score from the winning score.
For example, if the winning team scores 6 points and the losing team attains 5, then the winning team can only add 1 point to their overall score.
Cornhole Fouls
You’ll need to know the cornhole official rules inside and out to keep score.
This includes knowing how to identify a foul bag.
When you play cornhole, beware of the following fouls:
- Cornhole bags hitting the ground before the board – If a bag pitched hits the ground before landing on one of the cornhole boards, it is considered a foul bag.
- Stepping over the foul line – If a team steps over the foul line when pitching a bag, the bag thrown will not count.
- Removed bags – If a player eliminates any bag from the cornhole court before the end of the round, all of their four bags will be considered fouls.
- 20-second rule – All cornhole bags must be thrown within 20 seconds.
- Designated pitcher’s box – Once a player starts throwing bags, they must stay in the same pitcher’s box until the end of the round. Players cannot swap mid-round, nor can they throw from a different pitcher’s box.
- Dropped bags – If a player drops a bag during a round, this bag is considered a foul ball.
Keeping Score Throughout a Game of Cornhole
Clearly, there are many aspects to cornhole that you need to be alert to to keep score.
In a classic game of cornhole, the first team to reach 21 points wins. But who keeps score?
Here are some scorekeeping suggestions:
- Magnetic scorekeepers– These magnetic scoreboards can be mounted onto your two cornhole boards. By buying two and sticking them to both boards, you can be extra sure that the score is kept accurately.
- Scorzie – If you like to play cornhole with a cold beer in hand, this product would be perfect for keeping score.
- Cornhole scorecards – Keep on top of your score the easy way with scorecards.
- Cornhole app – There are several cornhole apps available that allow you to score keep virtually.
Final Thoughts
There are lots of aspects of the game that determine the winning cornhole team – foul lines, the 20-second rule, and woodies. However, counting to 21 points doesn’t need to be difficult – use one of our suggestions to make keeping the score easier!