DANVILLE — No matter what you call the bean bag or corn-filled bags toss game, being more widely known as Cornhole, there’s no question the game has become more popular in the area in recent years.

Just ask Darren and Katie White of Westville.

Darren was introduced to the game at a college graduation tournament in spring 2008. He’d heard of the game, but wasn’t an avid player.

By June 2008, the Whites had started their own business, called KDBAGZ, of making the Cornhole wooden platforms or boxes and the cloth corn-filled bags.

Those who aren’t familiar with Cornhole, it’s a game similar to horseshoes in which players try to throw cloth bags through a six-inch hole in an angled board set up on the ground — 33 feet hole to hole.

A game is played to 21 points. A bag in the hole receives 3 points. A bag that stays on the platform is 1 point.

Darren and Katie estimate they’ve made 60 sets of boxes and 150 to 200 sets of bean bags since they started their business.

He experimented with 2-by-4 boards first in making the wooden boxes, but they were too heavy.

Now he uses pine 1-bys and paints the BC plywood. The boxes are 2-feet wide and 4-feet long. The holes are 9 inches from the top of the box.

The Whites’ base price for two boxes is $225 which includes a set of eight bags. More detailed designs increase the cost.

The boxes and corn-filled bags meet all American Cornhole Association regulations.

“It turned into a business,” Darren, an insurance agent, said.

“It’s a new era of horseshoes,” he added.

The business also fits into Katie’s schedule to make the corn-filled bags. She’s a stay-at-home mom to their 2-year-old son Landon.

Katie said the most popular theme fabrics for the bags are Illini and the Chicago Bears.

“I can’t keep up,” she said.

They also sell the bags on eBay. They’ve sold supplies to people all over, including in Indiana, California and Georgia.

The bags measure 6-by-6 inches and weigh 14.5 to 16 ounces. Most of Katie’s weigh about 15.25 ounces.

“My grandma taught me to sew…,” she said.

When Darren first told her about the Cornhole game, she told him she could make the bags.

Katie buys the fabrics, mostly sports themes, and fills them with whole feed corn.

For printed fabrics, a set of eight bags costs $24. One set of four prints and one solid color set of four bags are $22, while two different color solid sets of four bags each are $20.

As long as orders keep coming in, they’ll continue making them.

It takes Darren about two weeks to make a set of platforms. Illini and Chicago Cubs sets are most popular. He’s also made John Deere, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and business logo sets.

White makes the platforms even more portable with folding legs, and a handle and locking mechanisms.

Local popularity

The game has been popular in bars across the country, in addition to college towns and for tailgating events.

“The VA has a set,” Katie said.

There also is a Cornhole League at Lincoln Lanes, 107 W. Harrison St.

Lincoln Lanes owner Paul Woodworth said the league is taking the summer off, but will start back up in September.

“It went over fairly well,” he said.

He got rid of some pool tables and set up three Cornhole courts.

A 14-team league started on Mondays nights in October and ran through the winter.

Woodworth expects 20-plus teams of men and women this year.

A Wednesday men’s league still comes in occasionally once a month, he said.

Woodworth said he’s seen people playing Cornhole at Bears game tailgating parties for years.

“It’s entertaining. I wanted to use the space differently than for pool,” he added.

He said anyone anywhere can play the game. He’s seen people age 80 to 10 play.

In the White household, Thursday nights are “bags nights,” Katie said. “We play and have a good time.”

The Whites think the game is growing more and more in popularity because its fun for all ages.

“There is definitely skill to this game,” Darren said. “I prefer throwing (the bag) flat and it spinning. Our boards are slick.”

Katie said she just throws the bags, not thinking much about it. Oftentimes she’s more of a spectator.

Another family who plays Cornhole weekly in backyards is Roger and Eva Cornwell, also of Westville.

They started playing regularly last summer, and they’re even known to shine spotlights in the backyard to play in the dark.

Eva Cornwell, 53, said she first learned of the game while growing up.

She saw it played at campgrounds and in backyards.

“I hadn’t seen it commercially for a number of years,” she said.

Now there’s definitely a resurgence — at University of Illinois tailgating parties and all over, she said, adding that relatives in Oklahoma also own a Cornhole set.

“I’m thinking it’s just booming nationwide,” Cornwell said.

The Cornwells bought a Chicago Cubs wooden box set from the Whites for their son’s birthday. They kept an Illini set for themselves.

“It is fun. There is always competition,” she said.

Eva said her husband, Roger, puts a flip in his throws of the bags.

“I fold the bag over and hope for a slide,” she said laughing.

“It really appeals to all ages (and men and women),” she added, saying that parents don’t have to worry about their children getting hurt. “It’s safe and it’s portable.”



FYI

For more information about Katie and Darren White’s Cornhole business visit their Web site at http://www.kdbagz.com or call 304-3233.

Those interested in joining the Cornhole League at Lincoln Lanes, call Paul Woodworth at 442-0861.