Shopping For Cornhole Bags

How to Shop for Cornhole Bags (Part 1)

With so many cornhole bags available these days, how do you even begin the search for the perfect cornhole bags?!

The answer is not as simple as it once was!  Before the popularity of cornhole skyrocketed, the equipment choices were pretty simple.  Bags were made of duck cloth, filled with either dried corn, or in more recent years plastic resin pellets.  Fast forward about 7 years, and now there are literally thousands of cornhole bags choices on the market!  A simple search on Google for "cornhole bags" will yield hundreds of website selling all kinds of different cornhole bag choices.  

So what is the difference and which bags should you buy?!  You will first need to decide if you are buying cornhole bags to just play in your own backyard, at picnics, tailgates, etc, OR if you are planning to join local league or organized event in your area.  Backyard players can buy anything on the market with zero limitations, but might want to purchase bags that are more durable and less expensive, while players looking to buy cornhole bags with the intention of joining a league or tournaments will need to do a little more research.

League style cornhole bags?  You may ask why is this important to know.  First of all, you will need to know which organization or league type is offered in your local area that you plan to attend.  This is important to know because each league and organization has their own rules around cornhole bags and which ones are allowed to be played within their organization.  Leagues such as the American Cornhole League, American Cornhole Organization, USA cornhole, Texas Cornhole League, all have different bag specifications and rules that must be adhered to when purchasing and using cornhole equipment at their events.  For instance each of those leagues have their own bag markings, that must be printed on the cornhole bags to be used within their events.  As an example, if you plan to play in American Cornhole League (ACL) events, you must play with bags that have the ACL stamp printed on the bags.  This ensures that the bags meet the requirements set forth by the ACL and can be used for their events.  

Once you have determined where you will be playing cornhole the majority of the time, this will help narrow down just which bags to buy!  This is the first step you should take when shopping for cornhole bags, and in the next part of this series, we will discuss the specifics about bag materials and fill to help educate you when making your next cornhole bag purchase!