Cornhole, boccie face off as favorite outdoor game

Boccie typically uses four
players to a team; its new competitor, cornhole, uses two-person teams.

By LAUREN POLINSKY

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Long summer days and warm nights allow more time for recreation, especially of the outdoor type.

This summer, traditional games such as boccie and wiffle ball are taking a back seat to new games, such as cornhole. Boccie, which has a strong Mahoning Valley history, is still holding on as a favorite, but this new game gives it some healthy competition.

Players still agree it’s not always about which game they are playing, but who they are playing with.

“That’s game,” said a participant in a Boardman bar’s boccie league last week, as her team lost its second game in a row.

Abby Cook of Girard started her boccie career this summer and chose Salty Grog’s Bar and Grill for her rookie season.

She didn’t know how good the team would be, but was aware this league was pretty casual in comparison to some other ones around the city. With only two games left in the season, her team is hoping to finish at an even 500, but Cook said she’s not that upset about the team’s record.

“I decided to join the league because it was a way to have fun during the week and hang out with my friends after work,” she said.

Italian boccie roots

Cook does not see cornhole as “just another trend,” but at the same time she doesn’t see it as having any real impact on boccie’s popularity — at least not in Youngstown. “Cornhole will keep going, but boccie will never die because there are so many Italians in this area and the game is a predominately Italian sport,” she said.

Boccie has long been a game of choice for Youngstown-area bars and taverns to offer customers. Now, bars and their customers have been jumping on the cornhole game. Bean bag toss, baggo or corn toss are also its popular names. Cornhole has been around since the 1960s but leagues and tournaments have just recently began sprouting up in this area, forcing bars to either choose between it and boccie or make room for both.

Boccie’s roots go back to Italy. The game was developed into the style now played during the Roman Empire, according to the U.S. Boccie Federation. Different versions have been played as early as 5200 B.C. in Egypt. It migrated overseas with immigrants, and as Italians settled in the Youngstown area, so did the game.

MVR and Salty Grog’s

The MVR Club on North Walnut Street in Youngstown has, arguably, the most famous league in the area and, according to owner Carmine Cassese, the largest league in the country. It dates back to 1975 and has grown into a four-court, 55-team league.

While the MVR sticks with the traditional game, Salty Grog’s is playing on both sides of the boccie-cornhole competition. Its boccie league, which is only 6 years old, has one court and 14 teams. League coordinator Deb Van Rees said the bar offers cornhole play during its boccie league playoffs.

Cornhole is most widely believed to have originated on the West Side of Cincinnati and was dubbed “cornhole” because of the bags’ corn feed stuffing.

The game is played with two teams of two players who take turns tossing bags at a raised platform with a hole at the end. Points are awarded for placement of the bags, and the first team to accumulate a predetermined number of points wins.

Cornhole tournaments

Marie Delphine of Youngstown was playing at a tournament at Buffalo Wild Wings’ Party on the Plaza in downtown Youngstown on Friday night. She said she has only played a few times and nicknamed the game “boccie with bean bags” because in both games players can knock their opponents’ balls or bags away from the target.

“I used to play boccie and I think it is more fun, but I also think this game is going to catch on big,” Delphine said.

Michael Smith of Cortland started playing cornhole two years ago and agreed that this year is the first the game’s been big in the area. He said it has become his favorite summer game, and he had four friends joining him at Friday night’s tournament.

“It is something to do when you are having a few drinks with your friends,” Smith said.

Mike Leanardo, team sports manager at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Boardman, said he cannot keep the replacement bags for the game on the shelf for more than a week at a time. The store sells sets that come with two boards and eight bags for about $90.