Tournament guide
How to run a cornhole tournament
Everything you need to plan a cornhole tournament, from a backyard bracket to a fundraiser: which format to pick, how many games and courts you’ll need, how byes work, and how to run it from your phone.
Updated
Pick a format
Double elimination
A team is out after its second loss. Every team that loses in the main (winners) bracket drops into a losers bracket, and the losers-bracket champion meets the winners-bracket champion in the grand final. It’s the American Cornhole Association’s standard for sanctioned tournaments, and it’s forgiving: one bad game doesn’t end anyone’s day.
Grand final reset: the winners-bracket champion arrives with no losses and the losers-bracket champion with one. If the losers-bracket champion wins, both now have one loss, so many events play one more game to decide it. Others let a single grand final settle it. Decide before you start.
Single elimination
Lose once and you’re out. About half as many games as double elimination, so it’s the pick when you’re short on time or courts. The downside: half the field is done after one game.
Round robin
Every team plays every other team once, and the best record wins. Everyone gets plenty of games, but the number of games grows fast: fine for 4 to 8 teams, too many beyond that.
Round robin, then a bracket
A popular mix for leagues and bigger events: play a few round-robin games so everyone gets some throws, then seed a bracket from the standings. The best records get the top seeds and any byes. If there isn’t time for a full round robin, play a set number of rounds against random opponents instead.
How many games you’ll need
The number of games depends only on the number of teams and the format. Byes fill the bracket up to the next power of two (8, 16, 32 and so on), so they don’t add games.
| Teams | Byes | Rounds (single) | Single elim games | Double elim games | Round robin games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6–7 | 6 |
| 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10–11 | 15 |
| 8 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 14–15 | 28 |
| 10 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 18–19 | 45 |
| 12 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 22–23 | 66 |
| 16 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 30–31 | 120 |
| 20 | 12 | 5 | 19 | 38–39 | 190 |
| 24 | 8 | 5 | 23 | 46–47 | 276 |
| 32 | 0 | 5 | 31 | 62–63 | 496 |
| 48 | 16 | 6 | 47 | 94–95 | 1,128 |
| 64 | 0 | 6 | 63 | 126–127 | 2,016 |
- Single elimination: teams − 1 games, since every game knocks out exactly one team.
- Double elimination: 2 × teams − 2 games, plus one more if the grand final is reset.
- Full round robin: teams × (teams − 1) ÷ 2 games, and each team plays teams − 1 of them.
How long it will take
Game length depends on the players, but around 20 minutes for a game to 21 is a sensible planning number. Multiply the games by that and divide by your courts to get the least time it could take:
16 teams, double elimination: 30 games × 20 minutes ÷ 4 courts ≈ 2.5 hours at the very least.
Plan for more than that. The later rounds have fewer games than you have courts, so courts sit empty while the last games finish, and you’ll want breaks. Adding courts shortens the early rounds the most.
How byes work
A bracket needs 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 teams to pair up evenly every round. With any other number, some teams get a bye: they skip the first round and go straight to the second. The number of byes is the next power of two minus your number of teams, so 12 teams in a 16-team bracket means 4 byes.
Byes usually go to the top seeds. With no seeding, draw them at random. After a round robin, the best records get them.
Courts and equipment
- Each court needs a pair of boards and eight bags: four in one color, four in another.
- Board distance: 27 feet from front edge to front edge for adults. 12 to 15 feet for kids and casual play.
- Space: a court is 8 to 10 feet wide and 40 to 45 feet long. Leave room between courts so bags and players don’t drift into the next game.
- How many courts: one court for every four teams lets the whole first round play in two waves.
The official court and equipment rules have the board and bag specs.
Before the day
- Collect your team or player list, and decide singles (1 v 1) or doubles (2 v 2). For a mixer, draw random partners.
- Pick a format from the table above that fits your time and courts.
- Agree on the rules: the official game is first to 21 with cancellation scoring. Announce any house rules, like win by 2 or a skunk, before the first game.
- Set up and label your courts, and check every court has matching bags.
- Decide how scores get reported: one person with a clipboard, or every team scoring its own games on their phones.
- If you can, put a TV or projector where everyone can see the bracket.
Running it with this app
This site runs the whole tournament for free, with no sign-up and nothing to install.
- Start a tournament from the home page and give it a name.
- Choose the format: teams of 2 or solo players, your own teams or a random draw, double or single elimination (with or without a grand final reset), and an optional full or limited round robin first.
- Add your courts (up to 32, with names if you like) and your teams, up to 64.
- Share the code. Players scan the QR code or type the 6-letter code to follow the bracket and score their own games.
- Press Start. The app builds the bracket, hands out byes, and assigns games to courts as they free up.
- Put the projector view on a TV. It shows the live bracket and games in progress and keeps itself up to date.
- Fix mistakes with Undo. Winners move on automatically; if a score was wrong, undo it and replay.