Cornhole has its own vocabulary. Most of it is short. Here are the terms you'll hear at any tournament or league night.
Scoring Terms
Airmail. A bag that flies straight into the hole without touching the board. Three points.
Cornhole. Any bag in the hole. Three points. Also the name of the game.
Woody. A bag that lands and stays on the board. One point. Synonyms: "on the board," "deuce," "ace."
Slider. A bag that lands short and slides up into the hole. Three points if it goes in.
Hanger. A bag resting on the lip of the hole. One point — until someone knocks it in.
Dirty bag. A bag that touches the ground before resting on the board. Doesn't count. Remove it before play continues.
Wash. A round where both teams score the same. Nobody gets points. See cancellation scoring.
Game State
On the hill. A team at 20 points needs one more to reach 21 and win.
Bust. Going over 21. In leagues that play with the bust rule, the team's score resets to 15.
Skunk. Some leagues end the game early when one team leads by a wide margin (often 11–0 or 7–0). Not used in regulation play.
Shots
Flop. A high-arc throw that lands flat and stops.
Push. A throw aimed at knocking a blocker off the board or into the hole.
Block. A bag thrown to land in front of the hole on purpose, forcing the opponent to throw over it.
Backstop. A bag at the back of the board that catches sliders and stops them from going past the hole.
Roll-up. A bag that bounces up the board and into the hole. Counts the same as any cornhole.
Equipment
Slick side. The side of a regulation bag with a smoother fabric. Slides farther on the board.
Sticky side. The opposite side of a regulation bag. Grips the board, stops faster.
Resin. A wax-like substance some players rub on the slick side for more glide. Allowed in casual play, banned in most ACL events.
Disputes
Cornfusion. A scoring disagreement neither team can resolve. Standard fix: replay the round.
Foul. A throw that breaks a rule — stepping past the foul line, throwing out of turn, throwing from the wrong box. The bag is removed before scoring.
Format Terms
Doubles. Two players per team. Each player throws from one board, then walks to the other.
Singles. One player per team. Both players throw from the same board, then walk to the other.
Round robin. Every team plays every other team once. See tournament formats.
Bracket. Single or double elimination chart matching teams against each other.
Tracking the Lingo
BagTrax tracks airmails, sliders, and woodies separately so you can see which throws actually score. Less arguing about whether that one was a hanger.