So you’re hooked on playing cornhole but you don’t always have access to a set of boards; what do you do?
Luckily there are a TON of other games you can play that share similarities with your favorite game, and we’re going to talk about them here. This way, no matter where you are or what you’re doing, you can find a game that always has elements of cornhole in it.
As far as party games go, beer pong is a great cornhole surrogate. You still need a bunch of stuff to play beer pong, like a table, cups, pong balls, and your beverage of choice. And other players! (Well, no judgment if you’re just home playing beer pong by yourself but it IS fun with friends.) Beer pong is a great game because it’s a partner game, but you and your teammate are on the same side of the table instead of across from each other like you are in cornhole. It’s an accuracy game where you throw pong balls into your opponents cups across the table. No cancel scoring in this one - every cup you make gets removed and whoever loses all their cups first loses the game.
Another great party game that doesn’t necessarily involve drinking is ladder ball. We love ladder ball because again, it keeps the partner/team aspect of cornhole AND the throwing aspect, so the same sort of mechanics apply here. As you work on your throw and your aim playing cornhole it will serve you well here in ladder ball, with adaptations of course. You’ll keep the cancel-scoring in this game too, based on which rung of the ladder you “bola” wraps around. Each run on the ladder is worth different points so you do all the scoring for both teams together and whoever has more points gets those points at the end of the round. Sound familiar?
Horseshoes is a great game, too, though not seen very often these days. All you need is some horseshoes and some spikes - that’s it. Ideally you’d like to have little sand pits with some small walls behind and to the sides of the spikes, but they’re not strictly necessarily for a quick pick-up game. Less equipment means easier transport and setup, so that’s nice! Same concept as cornhole, though you typically play 1-on-1 and keep the cancel-scoring you know from cornhole. You CAN play with teams but I always like the head to head aspect of horseshoes. Again, similar throw as cornhole and it’s all about accuracy and canceling your opponents scores. Give this one a shot, if not just for nostalgia’s sake!
I always though darts was a similar-enough game to make it on a list like this, and hear me out. It’s all about accuracy - just like cornhole. You benefit greatly from a consistent, repeatable throwing motion - just like cornhole. You can with two or four players - just like cornhole. And there’s plenty of room for trash talking, because you’re often playing at a bar! All good things, right? In all seriousness, I think the key here is recognizing that the more you can nail down your darts throw and keep it consistent every time, and the better you are with accuracy games in general, the better you’ll do in darts. To me the similarities with cornhole are definitely there, even if the playing field and the boards are different. There’s just something about throwing something exactly where you’re aiming and doing it over and over again, to the sadness of your opponent, that really brightens my day. And the best part of darts is that they’re super small and portable. If you like to play, you can pick up a decent set of darts that travel in a case like a glasses case and you can bring them when you go out to a bar or whatever. If the place has a board (you’re not going to carry THAT around) then you can play with your own darts for free usually, and keep honing your skills.
Washer toss is a great little game and it comes in all sorts of sizes for traveling. You can get bigger boards with bigger washers, or rings, and play outside just like you would cornhole. (Although if you’ve got all that space just play cornhole!) But they also make smaller versions that are more travel-friendly and portable, so you could conceivably play them inside, or even at a table. All the same core principles apply with washer toss: be accurate, be consistent, keep score, tease opponents.
Finally, there are a ton of other “cornhole style” games out there to play, too, though most of them require more space and some equipment. There’s the great golf-style cornhole game where you chip balls into holes. There’s a football style one. Soccer. Pretty much any sport has made an adaptation of cornhole, but they all kind of call into the same category for me. Which isn’t bad, but they don’t all get their own paragraph!
The bottom line is there are many ways you can practice the skills that will translate into your cornhole game. And if you’re not a madman consumed by being better at cornhole, which is ok too, hopefully this list can provide you with some ideas of other games you may just enjoy because of the similarities they share. I know for me, I enjoy accuracy games and games that require a honed, repeated throwing motion. Find the zone and just rack up points - it’s my jam. So if you’re like me and haven’t tried some of the games listed above, give them a shot!
