Show off your ‘a-maize-ing’ skills with a DIY cornhole game

11 Jan 2023

Looking for some summer fun? Become the boss at the toss by making your own cornhole game. Family, friends and neighbours are sure to want to come over for a game, and you can practice as much as you want, ready for those friendly, or ‘corny’, competitions.

What you will need:

• Two sheets of 7mm thick plywood, 600mm x 1200mm
• 8 x 1.2m lengths of 65mm x 18mm pine
• 2m of 90mm x 32mm pine
• Saw
• Electric drill and screws
• Measuring tape
• Jig saw
• Sandpaper
• Wood glue
• Painters tape
• Resene Woodsman Stain
• Resene Quick Dry
• 1m of sisal rope
• 4 galvanised 75mm long bolts and nuts
• 8 washers
• Resene Furniture and Decking Oil
• Resene testpots in colours of your choice - Fleur used Resene Woodsman Skywater, Resene Woodsman Grey Green and Resene Element. You can use paint or stain to suit your design. A glossy finish, such as Resene Aquaclear will make the surface more slippery.  A lower sheen finish will reduce the amount of sliding.

Step 1: Start by building the frame of the cornhole from 4 lengths of 65mm x 18mm pine so that the finished frame is 60cm wide and 1.2m long.

Step 2: Cut your plywood to fit and glue this on top of the frame with strong wood glue. Screw this in place and use wood filler to fill over the screw heads.

Step 3: While the wood filler is drying, cut a 15cm diameter hole out using a jig saw. Position this in the middle horizontally and 23cm down from the top of the cornhole board.

Step 4: Use painters tape and Resene Woodsman stain in the colour of your choice to stain the bottom-front of the cornhole. Fleur used Resene Skywater.  You could use paint if preferred, or Resene Colorwood interior wood stain if you plan to use the game indoors.

Step 5: Paint the remaining area with one coat of Resene Quick Dry followed by two coats of the Resene colour of your choice, Fleur used Resene Element.

Step 6: Using more painters tape, create a  pattern on the cornhole top panel. Paint on a geometric pattern of your choice with more of your chosen Resene colour. 

Step 7: Cut two legs at 30cm long and round off one end. Drill a hole through the rounded end so that it is big enough to fit the bolt. 

Step 8: Once the paint is dry, bolt this leg to the inside of the cornhole game board so that the board is propped up.

Step 9: Finish by rubbing two coats of Resene Furniture and Decking Oil on to the Resene Woodsman stain areas.

Step 10: For easy carrying, drill two holes into the frame on the side and thread a 50cm length of sisal rope through to form a handle. Knot the two ends.

Step 11: Make 4 x 15cm square bean bags for each cornhole board. Get some teams together and have fun! Cornhole can be played with just one cornhole board, but it is normal to have a set of two so that one person can stand next to each board and throw their beans bags at the opposite board.  Each person can then pick up the bags next to them and throw them back again, thus removing the need to walk to collect the bags.

project and images Fleur Thorpe

Published: 11 Jan 2023