It was almost 5 years ago (Nov 4th, 2004) that I read with interest, an article in the Napa Valley Register titled: “Corn toss craze sweeps Midwest”. This game is known much better as "Cornhole", but for obvious reasons some folks avoid using that name. Re-read that title substituting the word Cornhole and it will become very obvious why. It's basically a bean-bag toss game where the idea is to lob the corn kernel filled bags (Hence the name Corn Toss or Cornhole) through a 6” hole in a plywood platform (See above picture). Sounds easy enough, but that platform is about 30 feet away. I could go on for some time describing the game to you, but the following video will do it better & faster.
“The 2008 ACO King of Cornhole took place at the ACO US Nationals on January 23-24, 2009 at Sam's Town Casino in Las Vegas, NV.”
Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTZtFz2wUKc The sport has been big in the Midwest for years, but the sport has been gaining popularity in the West. Cindy & I have always enjoyed playing games with the kids, whether that was softball, cards, board games, etc. So after reading the article, I figured we’d give it a try. I ordered a set of the equipment from one of the many on-line sources. It was great fun for everyone that played, at least while they were playing. As fun as it is, it’s usually only played with 2 players, or 2 teams of 2 players. So if you have a group of 15 and only one set of cornhole boards, it takes a quite a while for everyone to get a chance to play – And then there is the odd (15th) player.
I’m known for changing the rules to games, in an effort to improve them. So I set about changing the rules to Cornhole to accommodate more people at one time, and we’ve been playing the “adapted” game ever since. Since I’ve bastardized the Cornhole rules, I’ll refer to my version of the game as “Bastard” for clarity in this column. In addition to that, I’m thinking that Traditional Corhholers will call me a Bastard for messing with the rules of their beloved Cornhole.
Bastard goes like this: Before starting play, a random drawing is done and everybody is assigned a number (we’ve had over 20 people playing at one time on one set of equipment). The folks with odd numbers start at one end of the court, and evens go to the other end. Person #1 starts and throws all 4 bags at the box at the far end of the court (by the even numbered players). His score is recorded and then person #2, throws the 4 bags back in the opposite direction. Person #3 continues this pattern, and so on. After the last person throws, the same cycle is repeated, but the odds & evens swap ends to keep things fair.
The key to playing Bastard with a large group is to keep things moving. Players need to know their place in the order, and be ready to take their turn. Throwing the 4 bags can be done in a half a minute without rushing. So if you have 20 people, it takes about 10 minutes for everybody to get a turn, before the next cycle starts. A “traditional” Cornhole player may think that’s a long time between turns, BUT that is also a fun part of the game – 19 players all watch, encourage and heckle the current thrower from the sidelines. Played this way, it brings total strangers together for fun and conversation. I've organized and run numerous tournaments this way over the last 5 years. The hardest part is just getting people to agree to play "Cornhole". Once they start playing, they love it!
We donate group dinners and wine tastings as auction items to several different fundraisers. At one dinner/tasting, we had 24 people from 3 different groups. Playing Bastard had them all interacting and having fun together. It's a great "mixer".
On Saturday, July 19th, we had a event for our wine club members. The food was outstanding.
Our winemaker Anna barrel tasted wines with folks
and brother Davie hosted vineyard tours with Q & A sessions.
We even had a violinist. All those things by themselves would have made the event a success (even in the 100 degree plus weather).
But we also played Bastard and that's where we had fun, pure & simple. And once again, total strangers comingled comfortably without formal introductions. Over the course of the day, we had 43 people compete in the tournament. Hank Chavez was the high scorer and took home the prize of a Magnum of Piña.
I like to think that Bastard is the perfect game for winery events and I'd love to see it adopted by other wineries for their events - Just remember that we introduced Bastard to Y'all.
John's Grandson Cooper Donoho helping out
Traditional Cornhole games go until one of the players gets 21 points, and there are a few variables on how that scoring is done. Depending on the skill levels of the players, a game of Cornhole with 2 players can last a long time, or be over quite quickly. In Bastard with large groups, a time limit is set, along with a maximum number of 10 cycles. Twenty people can each get in about 10 turns in an hour and a half. So the time limit can be that no new cycles will be started after an hour and a half of play. I made up score sheets that have 10 frames similar to bowling.
The frame score is entered in the little box and the cumulative score in the larger area.
Did I mention that I changed the scoring, too? In Cornhole, the scoring is 1 point for a bag on the platform and 3 points for putting it through the hole.
In Bastard, you get 1 point for placing a bag on the lower half of the platform, 2 points for the upper, 3 for touching (or over) the hole and 5 points for putting it through the hole. Lastly, the platforms are closer together than in Cornhole. The hole-center to hole-center distance is only 25 feet.
One disadvantage of Bastard is that you don't play against only one person. Playing against one person, you have the opportunity to knock your opponents bag off the platform.
One advantage of Bastard is that you don't play against only one person. You play against EVERYBODY!
Last month, we had a party at the winery honoring our employees and volunteers. Even though we were still calling it Cornhole, we had a Bastard tournament. We had competitors of all ages.
In the end, Our wine educator Clair Palmer came in 1st place. Note his winning form below.
Gary & Martha Weeck
And these great eats were planned & prepared by Katherine (Pina) Capponi,
Dinner in the cellar… And then the games began.
