Cornhole is growing in popularity and is a simple to play, yet difficult to master, game. With it’s sudden rise and the elite nature of top players, it comes with it’s own lingo. Not only is having the proper cornhole court dimensions critical to showing your statue, but mastering the game specific terminology will show other players that you are serious.
Here is a list of some of the more common Cornhole terms. This is not an exhaustive list, as many players and courts will have their own home field words:
4-Bagger: A complete game with 4 bags from a single player in the hole
Ace: A bag that lands on the board and scores 1 point.
Airmail: A bag thrown directly into the hole, without sliding on the board.
Back Door: A scored bag thrown over a blocker bag.
Back Stop: A bag left on the board behind the hole, creating a stop for other bags that would slide into it from going off the board.
Blocker: A bag left on the board, that is in the way of other bags sliding into the hole.
Bouncer (Jumper): A bag that bounces or jumps over a blocker bag.
Bust Scoring: A method of scoring where exceeding the target number of points does not result in a win. For example, if the target score is 21, in bust scoring a team leading 19-18 gets 3 additional points resulting in a score of 22. This “busts” the 21 score and resets their score. The reset value changes based on location, everything from negating that frame (19) all the way down to 0.
Cancellation Scoring: The typical scoring system that makes only one team gets points per frame. Scores of each player cancel out so that only the differential is added to the score of the higher team. For example, in a frame player A has a cornhole for all four bags (12 points) and player B has 3 cornholes and a 1-point woody (10 total points). By cancelation scoring only Player A’s team gets 2 points (12 – 10 =2).
Cornament: A cornhole tournament. Typically a seeded bracket style.
Cornhole: A bag that goes in the hole, scoring 3 points.
Court: The playing area of cornhole, including the pitching boxes, boards, and alley are called the court.
Cowpie: A bag at rest on that board in scoring position.
Dirty Bag: A bag that touches the ground prior to hitting the board. In most games this is not a legal scoring point, but house rules may allow it to score.
Foul Line: A line extending out the sides from the front edge of a board. If a player crosses the foul line during a toss, it is a foul and the toss does not count.
Frisbee: An elite level style of toss that spins the bag horizontally, not vertically.
Granny Shot: A two handed toss done from between the legs, similar to an under handed foul shot in basketball or a small child bowling.
Hammer: The final bag of each round. Stems from the term “drop the hammer”.
Honors: The team that has the first throw in the round because they scored best in the last round.
Lane: A side of the board, extending the length of the court from one board through another. A player, or team, will have a designated lane such that when they move to the other board they wind up pitching from both sides of the board (left, right) to even out any advantage given by pitching from just one side of the board.
Hanger: A bag that is hanging over the edge of the hole, or sometimes over the edge of the board.
Pitch (or Toss): A throw of the bag. It may be your turn to “pitch”, meaning you are the next player to throw, toss, or pitch a bag.
Pitchers Box: The area on either side of the board where players pitch, toss, or throw bags from.
Pusher: A bag that pushes another one into the hole while sliding.
Rake: Clearing the bags that have fallen into the hole, sometimes this is done to clear space if bags are stacked on top of each other and blocker others from falling through the hole.
Resin: The material that most synthetic “corn” pellets are made out of. Another word for this is just “plastic”.
Slider: A bag that slides on the board after landing. Typically refers to a bag that slides into the hole, but sometimes referring to sliding further than expected and off the back of the board.
Swish: A bag that goes directly in the hole, scoring 3 points. (See airmail).
Toss (or see Pitch): A throw of a bag.
Wall: A line of blocker bags, one or more, on the board blocking the hole.
Woody: Any bag that has been tossed and remains on the board to score a point.