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• Q&A: Indy Custom Cornhole's Scott Melby

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• Music Mill
• Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub
• The Spot

Contestants in a free April 16 tournament at the Music Mill, hosted by Scott Melby of Indy Custom Cornhole, warm up their arms. (Steve Sanchez / The Indianapolis Star)

Mike Oehler (left) and Kevin Warner await the April 24 cornhole tournament at Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub in Fishers, a benefit for Hamilton Centers Youth Services. (Heather Charles / The Indianapolis Star)

Fionn MacCool general manager Bill Pemberton competes in the tournament at his bar. (Heather Charles / The Indianapolis Star)

Michele Whelcher of Fortville reacts as her beanbag just misses the hole during the Cornhole Tournament at Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub in Fishers. The tournament was benefiting Hamilton Centers Youth Services, Whelcher works for Youth Services. (Heather Charles/The Star)

Cornhole "Kings", from left, Kevin Warner, Indianapolis, Mike Oehler, Carmel, Scott Melby, owner of Indy Custom Cornhole, Adam Rich, Fishers, and Sam Canary, Knightstown. (Doug McSchooler/for The Star)

Cornhole beanbags head to the board during the Cornhole Tournament at Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub in Fishers. (Heather Charles/The Star)

Traffic whirs by on 116th Street as dusk falls on Fishers. It's a warm, windy Thursday, and Adam Rich is lounging in a wrought-iron chair in a grassy area outside Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub, the broadness of his smile surpassed only by that of his shoulders.

"I've played semi-pro, arena, college and high school football," the 6-foot, 3-inch, 220-pound Rich said. "And I played football, basketball and baseball at Manchester (Ind.) College."

Last fall, after a seven-year stint as both receiver and quarterback for the Indiana Mustangs, a Noblesville-based semi-pro football team, Rich was invited to work out with the Indianapolis Colts. But three knee surgeries over the past year sidelined the multitalented athlete.

They say you can take the competitor out of the game, but you can't take the game out of the competitor. That might explain why Rich is sitting here tonight, sipping Coca-Cola on the rocks and waiting his turn to compete in a tournament where the winner will walk away with, at most, a couple hundred bucks.

It's not the promise of money that brought Rich out tonight. It's the thrill of the game. And the name of the game?

Cornhole.

Unlike the sports he played in college, cornhole doesn't require Rich to stretch beforehand or get a deep muscle massage afterward. The worst injury he can expect to suffer is carpal tunnel syndrome. And the most perilous part of the game is explaining its name to his most easily scandalized friends and family members.

Largely an outdoor game, cornhole is played with two slanted wooden boards and two sets of four cloth bags filled with corn kernels. Single players or teams of two take turns trying to toss the squarish bags into the 6-inch holes cut in each board.

Players score three points for every bag that lands in a hole, and one for every bag that lands on the board but doesn't go in. After all the bags are thrown in a round, the player/team with more points scores the difference between his total and the opponent's. The first to get 21 wins.

In some ways, cornhole is a distant cousin of horseshoes. But unlike horsehoes, cornhole is portable, and can be stored in a car's trunk. That's a big part of why the sport, which first became popular in Cincinnati in the 1990s, has become a trendy tailgating activity for pro football fans, particularly in the Midwest.

"I used to tailgate at a lot of Colts games, and cornhole was all over the place," Rich said. "So I started playing, and I was pretty good at it."

Like golf, cornhole has both its amateurs and professionals. Anyone intimately familiar with the sport has heard of Matt Guy, a 37-year-old from Alexandria, Ky., who is considered the best player in the world -- the Tiger Woods of cornhole.

While no one in Indianapolis can match Guy's cornhole prowess, several local players, including Rich, stand out as luminaries of the local cornhole scene -- guys you would never want to be matched up against at one of the many weekly tournaments around town.

Mike Oehler and Kevin Warner sit elbow to elbow outside Fionn MacCool's, trading stories from last week's tournament at another bar. A foursome of amateurs practices behind them, the "Thwomp! Thwomp! Thwomp!" of bags hitting wooden boards punctuating their conversation. At the moment, they're tallying the most consecutive bags they've ever holed during a game.

"I think I've done either 11 or 12," Oehler said. "But I know for a fact I've done 10, because I did it the day I met him -- against him."

"I don't remember that at all," Warner deadpanned.

"I remember it vividly," Oehler said, smiling. "It was definitely a time you didn't like me very much."

Nowadays they meet regularly on what Warner calls the "circuit." While Oehler plays at least two or three times a week, Warner's calendar is cornhole-packed.

"I played Monday in a tournament, Tuesday at a buddy's house, Wednesday in a tournament, and then today here. I'll probably play tomorrow, and then Saturday we'll have a (NFL) draft party where we'll have six or seven boards set up. On Sunday I don't have anything planned, but then next week I'll do it all again."

When Warner is asked how he spent his time before cornhole, Oehler answers:

"He was married!"

While playing cornhole six days a week might sound like tedium, Warner insists the game never gets boring.

"If you throw four in the hole in a row, you can shoot for eight in a row," he said. "If you throw in eight in a row, you can shoot for twelve in a row. You can always get a little better."

Oehler and Warner start warming up for the night's competition. Both land bags on the board with jarring consistency, often sinking them in the hole.

Each employs the "Frisbee toss," cupping the bottom of the bag with four fingers and using a thumb to secure the top, flinging it so it spins to the right. Warner leans in and flips his bag with a quick flick of the wrist, while Oehler steps into his toss, finishing with a fluid follow-through, like a pro bowler.

Tossing back a few

"There are two variations (of the Frisbee toss)," Oehler explained. "There is a no-step and there's a step. Kevin won't step."

According to Warner, all good cornhole players use the Frisbee toss. But throwing style isn't the only factor that affects a player's performance. Another is alcohol, which is often consumed by even the area's best players during games.

"I know Kevin's number," Oehler says, referring to the number of beers before Warner's game starts to suffer.

"Put a number on me," he challenges Warner, who demurs. Oehler continues, "I don't get to where it affects my game in a negative way. It may have a calming effect, after three or four."

Sam Canary, 24, started playing last Memorial Day during a family outing, and has been hooked ever since. A resident of Knightstown, he drove about 35 miles to compete in tonight's tournament -- something he would do more often if gas prices weren't so high.

Inspired by a great Guy

Canary played in his first tournament last year at the Indiana State Fair, where his team finished 11th in a 64-team field that included Matt Guy, among other pros. There, he learned by watching the master.

"I started using the Frisbee toss after I saw Matt Guy," he said. "It made a big difference in my game. I've shown all of my friends -- they were throwing it all wobbly and not landing it flat on the board -- and they've all gotten better too. That's definitely the way to throw. Whenever I play somebody who doesn't throw like that, I know I'm going to win."

Still, Canary has been working to develop new throws. For example, when an opposing player blocks the hole with a bag, Canary will try to throw a curve, a technique that "isn't that good, but works sometimes." More often, he'll try to "airmail it in."

"You basically have to go straight for the hole," he said. "You have to toss it over their bag and not hit it in. It takes a lot of practice and really good aim."

Whether it's his bag or the competitor's blocking the hole, Canary will lower the arc of his throw in an effort to push his bag into the hole -- a technique he calls "bump and run." And he uses another technique when an opponent's bag is hanging on the edge of the hole, and the force of his own shot could accidentally drop it in.

"I put more arc on it so it comes straight down on the bottom of the board, where it's more sturdy, and won't shake the board at all. That way, my bag stops on the front of the board and doesn't shake the top."

Better than developing fancy throwing techniques is simply keeping an eye on the target, Canary said.

"Whenever I hit my first bag, I don't even take my eye off the board. If I don't get distracted, I can keep putting it in the same place over and over." Canary admits that concentration is more difficult to sustain under the influence of alcohol. He sips a Miller Lite tonight, but says he'll stop at two.

"After three or four beers, I start losing my accuracy a bit."

An embarrassment of Rich's

Adam Rich continues to nurse his Coke while waiting his turn.

"I don't drink," he said. "I don't think that goes to my advantage or disadvantage."

He pauses for a moment. "Occasionally you'll get people who get really hammered. It can be an advantage then."

Rich started playing cornhole competitively last summer with a friend, Brent Ellis.

"We entered a couple of tournaments and got our butts handed to us. That made us want to get a lot better. We've been practicing, and I would say at this point we're up there in the top 5 or 10 (in Indianapolis)."

Rich points to a victory over Kevin Warner a week earlier as a sign of his progress. "When we used to play Kevin, I would get real frustrated. It's easy to get frustrated when a team throws one good round and all of the sudden you're down 10 points."

Mind over muscle

To be more competitive against Warner, Rich developed a strategy: He began trying to land his bag in front of the hole rather than in it. In cornhole, this is called a blocker.

"The way I saw it, if I get it in the hole and then he gets one in the hole, he hasn't lost any confidence," Rich explained. "But if I block the hole and force him to miss, I am in control. I can always knock mine in, because it's closest to the hole. But he can't knock his in over mine."

The strategy led to not just one, but three consecutive victories over Warner's team recently. But Rich, who owns a landscaping business and has an infant daughter, doesn't harbor any delusions about becoming the city's best cornhole player.

"That is something that would take more time than I have to give to the game," he said. Then, laughing, he added, "I know there is more to life than cornhole."

Get in the game

Play cornhole at one of these weekly events. For more information on upcoming tournaments, leagues and events, visit indycustomcornhole.com.

Cornhole night at the Spot (Partner required)

Where: The Spot, 6155 E. 86th St.

When: 8 p.m. Mondays.

Cost: Check www.indycustomcornhole.com for entry fees.

Cornhole at the Music Mill (No partner required)

Where: The Music Mill, 3720 E. 82nd St.

When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays.

Cost: Free.

Fionn MacCool's Charity Cash Tourney (No partner required)

Where: Fionn MacCool's, 8211 E. 116th St., Fishers.

When: 7:30 Thursdays.

Cost: $15.