There are hundreds of unique cornhole bags in the marketplace today. There are tons of cornhole bag manufacturers that have all sorts of intricate designs. In this article, we will outline the history of the cornhole bag and how cornhole bags have evolved into what they have become today.
The Beginning (1400’s-2002)
The true beginning of cornhole bags is somewhat unknown. Some claim it was derived from a 18th century game called “Parlor Quoits” [1]. But many would argue that the huge popularity of cornhole originated in Cincinnati, Ohio back in the 1980’s. This is where people would fill fabric bags with corn kernels to form a “cornhole bag”. For many years, cornhole bags were made using duck canvas cloth, stitched in a 6 inch by 6 inch square, flipped inside out, filled with whole kernel corn with a final closing stitch on the outside.
The Dual-Sided (Slick/Stick) Cornhole Bags (2003-current)
Sometime around the year 2003, dual-sided cornhole bags were introduced in the marketplace [2, 3]. The dual sided cornhole bag featured duck canvas cloth on one side of the cornhole bag and microsuede fabric on the other side of the cornhole bag. The duck canvas side is the faster/slick side of the bag. This means the cornhole bag will slide faster against the cornhole board surface when the duck canvas side of the cornhole bag is in direct contact with the cornhole board surface. The microsuede fabric side is the slower/stick side of the cornhole bag. The dual-sided slick/stick cornhole bag revolutionized the game of cornhole by adding strategy to the game play of cornhole.
Resin Filled Cornhole Bags (2006-current)
Sometime around the year 2006, plastic resin filled (a.k.a poly filled; synthetic filled; etc.) cornhole bags were introduced in the marketplace [4, 5]. Plastic resin in the shape of spheres, ovals, cylinders, etc. filled the cornhole bags to ensure a consistent fill, provide weatherproofing/waterproofing, and to ensure the filler material didn’t break down overtime. Most cornhole bag manufacturers filled the bags with either recycled plastic resin or a blend of virgin/new plastic resin. The blend of plastic resins would create a specific density to give the bags a certain feel. Others use a PET resin, a single virgin/new resin that provides almost the perfect density for filling cornhole bags.
Multiple Fabric & Multiple Material Cornhole Bags (2013-current)
Multiple fabric and multiple material cornhole bags were made popular by the American Cornhole Organization’s (ACO) Classic Players Choice Bags and ACO-PRO 450 Bags in the year of 2013 [6,7,8]. The ACO Players Choice Bags has an embroidered patch on the center of the suede side of the cornhole bag and a smaller embroidered patch located in the corner of the duck canvas side of the bag. The embroidered patch allowed the suede side to not be as “sticky” in the center of the bag which allowed for the cornhole bags to fall into the hole much easier when the embroidered patch came in contact with the hole of the cornhole board. Some versions of the cornhole bag were eventually replaced with sublimated ink on the suede side and a heat transfer material patch on the duck canvas side. The innovation of the ACO laid the foundation for multi material and multi fabric cornhole bags as they are today.
References
- De Windt, Heyliger. “US Patent 285,396 – Parlor Quoits”.
- http://www.musiccityboards.com/what-is-cornhole.html [October 22, 2003]
- https://ecornhole.com/corn-hole-rules/ [January 10, 2004]
- http://www.outdoorgameplayers.com/outdoor-games-list/cornhole/ [June 21, 2006]
- http://www.cornholegameplayers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1350 [August 26, 2006]
- https://www.missourimarketplace.net/cornhole/ACO-Players-Choice-Cornhole-Bags-2.JPG [January 29, 2014]
- https://www.missourimarketplace.net/cornhole/
- https://americancornhole.com/downloads/ACO-SeasonIX/ACO-CertOfficialGuide-SeasonIX.pdf [August 17, 2013]
