You might know the game as bags, sack toss, or bean bag. It is a lawn game in which players take turns throwing bags of bean bags at a raised platform with a hole in the far end. A bag in the hole scores 3 points, while one on the board scores 1 point. Play continues until a team or player reaches or exceeds the score of 21 using cancellation scoring.
Sun City has an active Bags Club thanks to their Social Director Judi Antonelli.
“She’s our spark plug. Our membership has increased to her efforts.” Said Chuck Czochorza, the first president of the club. “We had a difficult start. We started playing indoors in the Lodge, but we were kicked out. We had to move our game to a place on Algonquin Road. We lost members. It was not as easy to get to.”
Bags Club members Richard Sperando (right) and Chuck Czochorza.
Doug Steffey, the current president said, “We are glad to be back here. We have a good relationship with the Cam Board and thanks to Judi’s outstanding efforts our membership has grown. We have about 70 members currently. Our dues are $5. We play June through October, and we have weekly competitions.”
New members continue to arrive.
Don Wickersham said, “This is my second time playing with the club. My wife Mary loves the game and convinced me to come.”
The club plays weekly and all are invited.
Steffey said, “We now play our game at the Fountain View Pavilion on Mondays from 3-5 p.m. We have mixed teams, men and women. Women hold their own in this game.”
Bag Toss is a great American pastime that has been around for centuries. Heyliger De Wind had an 1883 patent for Parlor Quoits. His game of Quoits had most of the features of the modern game of bags, but with a square hole instead of a round one. De Wind was the first to use beanbags and a slanted board with a hole as the target.
The game is known by different names, depending on where you live. Players from the East Coast and south refer to the game as Cornhole. Here in the Midwest, Chicagoans and residents in the upper central portions of the United States refer to the game as bags.
