El Paso’s Cornhole Community Is Ready to Teach New Players

I owe cornhole players an apology.

For years, I looked at cornhole and thought, how hard can it really be? You grab a bean bag, toss it toward a board and hopefully get it in the hole. Easy enough, right?

No. No, it is not!

I recently learned that there is a lot more skill- and strategy- to cornhole than I ever gave it credit for. And if you're like me and know absolutely nothing about the game but suddenly want to learn, there's an El Paso group ready to help you out.

El Paso's Sun Dogs Cornhole Welcomes Players of All Skill Levels

El Paso has its very own competitive cornhole community with the Sun Dogs Cornhole, and you don't need years of experience to play with them.

In fact, beginners are welcome!

Joanna Barba

The Sun Dogs typically get together every Friday at 7 p.m., with players of all skill levels invited to come out, play and learn from people who really know the game. Some of the players even compete nationally, but don't let that intimidate you- they're willing to help newcomers learn everything from how to throw the bags to how the scoring works.

They often play at the VFW, but locations can change, so your best bet is to check before heading out. Follow Sun Dogs Cornhole on Facebook or @sundogs915 on Instagram to see where they'll be playing that particular Friday.

And having now played alongside some of these folks, I can confirm that having someone there who knows what they're doing is VERY helpful.

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My First Cornhole Tournament Was a Humbling Experience

My introduction to competitive cornhole happened at the Way Out West Fest in Downtown El Paso, where Veronica Gonzalez and I were representing KLAQ in a cornhole tournament.

We figured it would be a fun little game. Then we realized we were surrounded by people who actually knew how to play; including a very talented 11 year old!

Thankfully, our opponents were also fairly new to the game, although, as we quickly discovered, they were still much better than us.

We played two rounds. We lost two rounds. And then came the devastating news that our promising professional cornhole careers had already come to an end: we did not advance to the final rounds!

Turns out, throwing a bean bag onto a board is a lot harder than it looks. Getting it into that little hole? Even harder. And don't even get me started on learning how cornhole scoring works while you're trying to play.

Joanna Barba

But we had fun!

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The Sun Dogs were there throughout the tournament helping us with everything from tips and tricks on how to throw the bags to literally helping us keep score when we had no idea what we were doing.

For our first time playing, I'd say we didn't do too badly.

Now there's only one problem: I feel like I need to improve my cornhole game!