How to Make a Cornhole Bean Bag Toss Game

Cornhole is an outdoor game where players take turns tossing bags filled with feed corn at the raised cornhole platform. The object of the game is to get the bag into a hole in the platform or at least land it on the board. A bag in the hole is three points and on the board is one point. The game ends at 21 points.
You can make a cornhole bean bag toss game with little more than wood and fabric.

Things You'll Need

• 4-by-4 piece of plywood
• Thin saw
• 2-by-4s -- Roughly 30 total feet in length
• 3 to 4 inch nails
• Jig saw
• Compass
• Hammer
• Tape measure
• Sand paper
• Outdoor Paint or Stain
• 16 7-by-7-inch pieces of duck cloth in different colors
• 8 lbs. dried feed corn
• Sewing machine

Instructions

1. Cut the plywood in half with a saw. You should have two pieces that measure 2-by-4 feet. These will be the targets. You will cut a hole 6 inches in diameter into each board. Measure 6 inches down from the top of the board for the top of your hole. Each side of the hole will be 9 inches from the sides of the board. Use a compass and draw a circle 6 inches in diameter. Use a jig saw to cut out the circle. Use sand paper to fix any rough parts of the circle.

2. Start the targets with the base. Cut the 2-by-4s into the following sizes: Four 4-foot pieces, four 22-inch pieces, four 12-inch pieces. Place the two 4-foot pieces 22 inches apart and parallel to each other on your workspace. Place the two 22-inch pieces at each end inside the 4-foot pieces to form a rectangle. Hammer two 3- to 4-inch nails in each end of the 4-foot pieces through the 22-inch pieces to complete the frame. That will be a total of four nails in each 4-foot piece of wood. You will be left with the 12-inch pieces for the legs that you will add on later.

3. Attach the top to the base to make the target. Take your plywood target top that you have cut the hole in and lay it on top of the base. Attach the plywood to the base with some 3- to 4-inch nails. Put one nail in each corner and then put nails in the remainder of the perimeter every 2 inches.

4. Make the legs. The bottom of your cornhole frame will be close enough to the standard height for a corn hole target. You will need to build legs for the top of the board, the end with the hole, to raise the top of the board to a height of 12 inches from the ground. Nail two 12-inch 2-by-4s to the top of the frame on the inside using two 3- to 4-inch nails. Measure the distance from the ground to the top of the board. If it is higher than 12 inches, sand off the leg until you get a measurement of exactly 12 inches.

5. Decorate your targets. Cornhole targets can be left as they are or they can be painted. It's not a bad idea to protect your targets with some waterproof outdoor paint or stain, like Thompson's Water Seal Waterproofer Plus Clear Wood Protector. Apply according to direction on the packaging. You can get waterproof outdoor paint or stain at your local home improvement or hardware store. Once you do this your targets will be ready for playing. You will not need to secure them to the ground. Just set them across from each other with around 12 feet of playing area between them.

6. Sew up the bags. You can make the bean bags that are tossed toward the targets out of duck cloth, which will hold up through all the wear and tear. You'll need four bags of one color and four bags of another color. Sew together two pieces of matching fabric. Leave a hole big enough to fill the bag with the feed corn. Fill each bag with approximately 15.5 oz. of feed corn, or around 2 cups, and sew it closed.

Resources

• How To Build Your Own Cornhole Game Platforms