The History of Cornhole – Impress (or annoy) your friends with useless “facts”
If you search the internet far and wide, you are likely to come across the same regurgitated history of cornhole. Is there anyone out there who knows the real history, the origin story of this game we lovingly call cornhole?
Well, we did our homework and pulled together some of the most plausible origin stories for the game. We encourage you to let us know which of the following feels like the real deal, and which ones are nothing more than a small sack of corn and rumors.
Or maybe you want to start your own origin story…give us your best and maybe we’ll feature it on the site!
Without further ado (and not wanting to break with tradition), I give you the “inter-nets” version of the history of cornhole.
A long long time ago…
Ancient civilizations are to thank for many of the games that we play today. The first form of basketball can be traced back to the game played by Mesoamaerican folks almost 3000 years ago. One of the earliest games that we know about (Greece – 5200 BC!), and probably most closely related to cornhole, is the game of Boccia. In this game, the players threw large stones at a stone target. Sounds familiar right?
There are also stories of native tribes that played a game of “toss the rock in that hole over there”. I think at one time or another we have all played this game that requires nothing more than a hand full of rocks and something to toss them at. As kids, when out camping, we’d play a game were we gathered up small pine cones, and then placed a Solo cup 10 feet away (with some rocks in the bottom to help keep it from tipping over) and then start tossing. The kid with the first cone in the cup usually won that round.
It seems like throwing stuff at other stuff, especially if it has/is a hole, is somehow embedded deep in our DNA.
Cincinnati – Maybe didn’t invent the game, but they sure popularized it!
Cincinnati is considered by many to be the center of the cornhole universe. They are the ones we have to thank for the American Cornhole Organization, and the comedy movie (yes movie) “Cornhole the Movie” which was filmed in Cincinnati. Did I mention there is a cornhole movie? I think that by default, the first city to have a movie about cornhole filmed/set in their city, gets to lay claim to the title “Home of Cornhole”.
If you ever want to feel the “cornhole love” (yes, I hear it), then Cincinnati is the place to go. Whether it be backyard get-togethers, tailgate parties or hard core tournaments, you can bet that the city of Cincinnati takes it’s cornhole serious.
Corn farmers the source of Cornhole? I don’t buy it!
It’s just too easy an explanation right? But maybe it is true. There are stories from the midwest about farmers creating a game to pass the time. If you think about it, all the pieces are there…
a.) corn
b.) cloth sack material
c.) scrap pieces of wood
d.) free time – something better to do than watch the corn grow
This makes me wonder…are there early sets of bags and boards out there. Just laying dormant in some mid-western hay loft, collecting dust…waiting to be found? What an amazing find that would be!
Du Spielst Cornhole? Why, yes I do play!
We have the Germans to thanks for many things: Toothpaste, the first car (Benz of Mercedes-Benz) and denim jeans (Levi Strauss).
Now, from my experience playing cornhole, I have seen a disproportionate number of players who appear to diligently brush their teeth, enjoy wearing Levi’s and showed up to the event in a car! (All things created by the Germans!) It’s not an impossible leap of faith to assume then that Germans, did indeed, invent the game of cornhole. Case closed!
Now, I could be biased here as we do have some German heritage. Putting that aside…facts are facts (until proven otherwise). So, I leave if up to the cornhole community to dispute my claim that cornhole is yet another gift from the Germans.
Cornhole Culture
The game of Cornhole has quite the following. It’s not just a game that gets played at tailgate parties.
There are leagues and tournaments all across the country! You’d be hard pressed to drive a neighborhood on a nice summer day and not see a family in the backyard playing cornhole…BBQ smoking in the background.
There aren’t too many “sports” you can play while eating a meal and drinking a beer. That is one of the many things that makes cornhole such a special game!
I have to admit, I’m a fan of some of the stuff Rhett & Link produce. If you want to have a good laugh, maybe even dance a little, crank up the volume and play The Cornhole Song.
As always, we appreciate your feedback and comments. If you have any other ideas of where, how, why this amazing game was started please share below!
This is probably one of the most popular games at any sport tailgating event. Cornhole as it is called will never go away as long as there is a professional or college games to attend. I didn’t realize until I read your article that cornholing is involved in charitable events. You left one thing out that is always at these events, BEER. especially in the south where I live.
Hello Donald,
I sure hope the game of cornhole never goes away! It is pretty crazy how popular the game has become at sporting events and backyards alike. And yes, across the country almost every month there are at least a few charitable cornhole games being held. When I find them I try and post them in Events here at The Cornhole.
OK, so about BEER! I couldn’t agree more that beer is always at these events. So of course I didn’t leave it out. While I didn’t explicitly mention beer in written form, if you look at the image with the cave drawing you may notice something. Where early man (and woman) are depicted playing the precursor to cornhole, you might notice one of the players holding a frothy beverage. 😉
Thank you so much for stopping by. Now get out there, grab a cold one and play some cornhole!