How Far Apart Should Cornhole Boards Be? What Are the Rules? | allgearlab.com (2024)

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Whether you’re at a tailgate or a barbecue, if you’re playing cornhole, you want to be sure you’re playing by the rules. While the rules usually take the fun out of the game, here it adds to the fun.

So if you want to follow the official rules, how far apart should cornhole boards be?

How Far Apart Should Cornhole Boards Be?

Cornhole is an incredibly popular game, and that is because of how easy it is to pick up and learn. The rules to cornhole are very straightforward. However, one rule that is often called into question is the distance between the two boards on the field.

The official American Cornhole Association (ACA) rule regarding how far apart should cornhole board be is 27 feet from the front edge of one cornhole board to the front edge of the other.

If you measure between the two holes on the boards, then you’ll need 33 feet between them. For the back side of the boards, you’ll need 45 feet in total between the edges.

Cornhole Regulations

Unlike a lot of rules that are in place to purely make the game fair, cornhole regulations do that and then some. The rules that are in place for cornhole add challenge to the game, which in turn makes the game that much more fun.

Otherwise, you’d have people throwing their bags from much closer, and it’d be ridiculous.

The American Cornhole Association has regulations for everything from the size of the boards and the bags, to how to score points and even foul bags. It may also surprise you that there are a lot of people who pay attention to these rules.

But when will you use these rules, let alone care about how far apart should cornhole boards be? Well, believe it or not, true cornhole fans are stricklers for these rules. Not to mention that the regulations for cornhole exist whether you play in your backyard or at a tailgate.

But then again, a lot of people throw caution to the wind and only pay attention to specific rules when they play.

Cornhole Board standards

According to the American Cornhole Association, there quite a few regulations regarding the cornhole board. There are specific rules for how big the boards can be, the hole placement and size, and of course, how far apart should cornhole boards be.

While people call some rules into effect more than others, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re there to use.

The size of the boards is precise, and many cornhole board brands hold these specifications up to the letter. An official cornhole board should be 2 feet in width and 4 feet in length. The hole on the board should be 6 inches in diameter, 9 inches from the back of the board, and 12 inches from either side.

While the 27 feet apart distance is the official answer to the question of “how far apart should cornhole boards be,” there is an acceptable range that they are allowed to be.

The actual range distance between the boards is 24 to 27 feet. This allows for some flexibility if you are tight on space or if you are playing with older or younger people.

The court itself where you play cornhole is to be 40 to 45 feet long and 8 to 10 feet wide. This allows each person on either team to have plenty of room to throw their bags, with each pitching box being about 3 feet wide.

Speaking about pitching, when you are throwing your bags, according to the rules you can’t step past the front edge of your board. So be careful.

If you do, it’s considered a foul throw, and you’ll have to redo your pitch. Sometimes that can be a godsend, but most of the time it’s not.

Bag regulations

Even though we are talking about how far apart should cornhole boards be, the bags play into that ruling quite a bit. Cornhole bags have their standards for the size and the weight, even the material.

It all factors into how far they can be thrown, the performance in the air, and on the boards themselves.

Per the American Cornhole Association, cornhole bags should be 6 inches by 6 inches, with a weight of 15 to 16 ounces. Furthermore, the bags should be filled with feed corn or plastic pellets. The material of the bags should be durable duck canvas or synthetic suede.

The size and weight of the bags are set, so each bag behaves relatively the same when you toss it through the air. The material is standard so that the bags react the same when they land on the boards.

The regulation for how far apart should cornhole boards be is set because it works perfectly for the size, shape, and weight of the bags themselves. However, there is a technique that you have to learn yourself to get the perfect throw.

If you toss the bags too hard, too soft, or not high enough, you’ll either come up short or overshoot.

Aren’t Cornhole Rules More Like Guidelines?

When you think of a game like cornhole, you usually aren’t thinking about the rules that surround it. You’re generally thinking about how you can crush your little cousin at the next barbecue. And to be fair, aren’t the “official rules” more like guidelines to keep the game fair or to be used in league games?

Well, yes and no. It all depends on the person or people who are playing with you.

Some die-hard cornhole fans will uphold every rule to the letter. However, most people are just trying to have fun when they play, so the majority of the rules go out the window, anyway.

The fact of the matter is that there are some rules that people pay attention to more than others. For example, the size of the boards is one that even the brands that make them seriously pay attention to. Also, people usually use the rules surrounding how to throw the bags.

However, other rules like the playing field and even how far apart should cornhole boards be is often just eyeballed or ignored altogether.

Why is this, though? The rules are there for a reason, so shouldn’t you use them? Well, not entirely.

Most games of cornhole are just played with family or friends in your backyard. People often make up their own rules for the game.

Do you know how certain card games play differently when you are playing with your uncle? It’s often the same with games like cornhole.

However, if you ever play in a legitimate cornhole league game, you’ll need to follow the rules explicitly.

Exceptions to the cornhole rules

Unless you are playing in an official game, the rules act as guidelines to how the game should be played. There are many instances when you can change some rules to make the experience more enjoyable.

One of the most common situations for the change of rules is during a tailgate. These parties limit the overall space you can use, which, in turn, has you making the play area much smaller. There are even brands that make smaller cornhole boards that are for tailgates.

In reality, the standards for how far apart should cornhole boards be is very flexible. You can make it as now or as near as you want, within reason. You don’t want to be playing 5 feet apart from each other — where’s the fun in that?

But lowering the distance to 20 or even 15 feet is fine if you need to fit it in a smaller space. Not everyone’s backyard is enormous and can accommodate a 45-foot playing area.

Also, there are plenty of portable cornhole board options that completely disregard nearly every regulation around the boards; all to make the boards more comfortable to carry around, which makes a lot of sense.

Does everyone use the official rules?

Barely anyone pays attention to the majority of the official rules of cornhole. At most, people will keep the scoring system and pitching rules and disregard everything else.

Why is this? It’s because not a whole lot of people care about the rules of the game. They want to have fun with their friends and family. As long as you remember a handful of rules, especially the ones around the scoring system, you’ll be fine.

Play (Somewhat) by the Rules

Learning the rules around cornhole can make you look like an expert in front of your friends. But the rules around how far apart should cornhole boards be will likely be eyeballed. As long as you have a general sense of the distance between the boards, you’ll be fine.

If you are part of a league and are going to play in an official game, these rules will come in handy. It all depends on what setting you are going to be playing in. Either way, the rules can be a fun addition to the game, but pick-up games don’t require all of them.

Does your family have their own rules about how far apart should cornhole boards be? Maybe you have other rules for the game. Let us know in the comments below!