I’ve already shared a little history about playing games with my dad and it only seems fair to talk a bit about my mom, too. My mom wasn’t a big game player herself, but she’d play some games if a group of us were playing. Actually, all my grandparents really loved to play games (which I think is typical, especially card games, for people of that generation) and my mom would join in when we all played together. I guess I’ll have to write something about games with my grandparents, too! But back to mom for now.
Mom played all the kids games with us. Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Go Fish, eventually doing stuff like Life, Monopoly, Clue, etc. Board games were our jam back then, and they still are for me, now! But mom didn’t really play table tennis, or frisbee, or whiffle ball. More of a sit down and play at a table type deal.
Eventually when I was older she’d play darts, or billiards, but not very often. I think I’ve found a winner in cornhole though!
I was super excited to get a new set of corn hole boards when I made the move from Connecticut down to North Carolina. We gave our original set to my brother in law and his family and they’ve been enjoying them, so it was time to get another set for down south. My mom actually picked out the boards and gave them to my dad for their anniversary, which was super sweet! It took us a few weeks to take them out of the box and play for the first time, but once we did that we had a blast.
The first time my mom played cornhole with me was at a Fourth of July party in 2021. I had JUST come down to NC a couple days earlier and we were at their neighbors house with a handful of other couples. They had cornhole set up and so naturally I had to find a partner and start the games. You can’t just have the boards set up already and not play them! Anyway, my mom watched the first game and then she decided she wanted to try.
Now to be both honest and fair in my reporting of this game, mom was not very good. Very bad for most of the time actually, ha! But she stuck with it and had a lot of fun and that’s what it’s all about. At the end of the party is when she decided she wanted to get a set of boards for herself. One afternoon playing a couple games and she was hooked.
Fast forward to our first games a few months later with our new boards and mom is at it again, one on one, against me. She had some really solid throws, scored a handful of points and was in the lead in the very beginning! It was very exciting! Her big thing is trying to figure out the arc of her throw and hitting that consistently. She does NOT do the pancake style throw with a little spin - she’s more of a “ball it up and huck it” type player - but she tried it a bunch. I think a lack of frisbee skills played a role in her struggle with the spin.
We had a blast, and I won the two games we played, but she stuck to the rules and played me 4 bags vs 4 bags the whole time, unlike someone else. When my dad stepped in and played me next he wanted to play with more bags than me and he still got beat! :) Sorry dad, but you already had your story. Mom stuck it out and although she got beat a couple times, she was excited for the next time for us to play.
Mom and dad did face off against each other after that but they didn’t finish their game. I’m sure as everyone plays more we will all improve, both quality of throw wise and stamina wise. It’s not often you throw 16 oz bags like 100 times in an afternoon. But like anything else, with practice comes improvement, and they both loved the game.
My dad is in his 70s, my mom in her 60s, and they’re just now starting to play cornhole. I think that’s super cool, and super fun for all of us. It’s never too late to start, and it’s a great way to have some laughs and make some memories with your family. I highly recommend the game to everyone!