You don't have to be an Englishman to enjoy a congenial game of darts pub in Sacramento, California. The backside of at least one Des Moines, Iowa, restaurant features a carefully maintained bocce court for the popular Italian ball rolling game. Likewise, you can now play cornhole in Fayetteville, Arkansas.



Cornhole's origins aren't quite as foreign as those traditional European recreations, but it is great to see just how fast the young game has expanded in popularity. Cornhole started on the west side of Cincinnati, Ohio, and is now enjoyed coast to coast.

For those who haven't yet encountered the addictive competition, cornhole is a lot like horseshoes. Replace the metal posts with a sheet of plywood featuring a hole toward its top. Get rid of the horseshoes and replace them with small bags of dried feed corn. Tweak the scoring system a bit. Now you have cornhole.

So, why has this simple game with such a rural feel (we are talking about tossing bags of grain) caught on with so many people in our high-tech, progress-worshipping society? What makes people who blog, listen to MP3 players and buy cell phones the size of matchbooks want to toss corn through a piece of plywood?

It's not a mystery. Cornhole is great for the same reason Italy's bocce is great. It's a good time for the same reason people enjoy tossing darts.

Cornhole is competitive without being demanding. You don't need a gym membership or a life story that involves choosing between NCAA Division I athletic scholarships to play. Even a fat guy or a gal with a slightly sore back can toss cornhole bags.

Cornhole requires skills, but not specialized skills. You don't win cornhole games based on luck, but you don't have to do be able to make contact with a ninety-five mile per hour curve ball or drop a basketball into the bucket from outside the arc with a seven footer in your face. It's skill-based without being skill-intensive.

Cornhole lets you talk. You can play and discuss simultaneously, making it a great social experience as well as a competition. There will be the occasional moment of concentration, but more often than not you will be experiencing moments of conversation.

Cornhole has real appeal on multiple levels. At first glance, it would appear that corn-tossing was a longshot to hit the big-time. A closer examination, however, shows that cornhole follows in the long tradition of perfect social games.