The cornhole bag market is getting out of control lately. Kind of reminds me of a concert ticket scalper back when I was younger. What is a Scalper? A person who buys an item as soon as it’s available and resells it at a higher price point than the item originally sold for. That is exactly what is happening in the cornhole world with new bags.
Have you noticed how hard it is to get your hands on a newly released bag Remember back in the day when you really wanted to go see a concert and the tickets were being released at 8pm on Friday night. You were right there on your computer at 7:50pm, refreshing the screen every few seconds, waiting for the tickets to drop so you can suck up a set.
Boom, clock hit 8pm, you refresh the screen and maybe you were lucky enough to get into the system, added the tickets to the cart, go to checkout and before you can enter your payment info, SOLD OUT! What? I had them, how does that happen. The next day, ticket scalpers had them for sale at 10x the ticket price. Well, same thing happens with bags. That is exactly what is happening to new and limited edition bags.
It’s your fault scalpers overcharge
Why is it my fault that someone is charging me 2x the original price for those bags? Because if you didn’t need those bags right now then the bag scalpers couldn’t get away with asking ridiculous prices. Be patient, decide if that is the right bag that will help your game or wait for the buzz to die down, then you will get those bags at a reasonable price.
But let’s talk about why you even want these bags. Are they right for you or do you want them because you saw a Professional player win a tournament with them and thought, that must make them great bags? Look how easy they go in the hole, 4 baggers every time. I need those bags because I need 4 baggers. Listen, most of the Pros can win games with corn-filled bags. You going to run out and buy those next?
AllCornhole pushed the limit in 2018 with the introduction of the GameChanger. And guess what, it changed the game. The Gamechanger took a player’s bad throws and pretty much turned them into playable bag that went straight. Most of the first sets that were sold probably got in the hands of bag scalpers and went up for sale with a higher price tag. As the bag buzz grew and the production declined, the scalper prices rose. Heck, we have seen some of the most outrageous, head-scratching prices for GameChanger bags and people were willing to pay it.
Look at how Killshots went from just another bag to a high-demand bag company after Dalton McKlem and Kyle Malone used them to wipe up the competition during the first National in 2020 in Florida. People saw two great players using a new bag and thought, this could be the bag that will help me win, I need them. Don’t get me wrong, Killshots makes a great bag but are they really worth any more than other bags? Are they really better bags or are the people using them better? That argument can be used for most bags out there.
Let’s look at the new BG Vikings which are very similar possibly the same as a Reynolds Pro Advantage. In fact, when they were released, most of the pros used that exact comparison. BG did a killer job of marketing this bag before it was even released which had the scalpers drooling, waiting for the bag to be available to the public so they can buy them all and charge you whatever they want. Many pros already had them prior to release and shared they had them so that made people want them more
Stop wasting money on bags you won’t use!
When we get asked what’s the best bag, we always say the same thing. There is no such thing as the best bag! You just need to find the right bag. The right bag for you is the one that fits your playing style, your throw and feels great in your hand. The bag that you can get in the hole more than any other bag you have used. That is YOUR right bag!
And I am not saying that you should find 1 bag series and always use that but once you know what your perfect bag is, you can start buying bags that fall into those same characteristics. Bags that feel the same and play similar. Is you are a strategic player that likes to throw a block, then avoid the fast bag, even if the best player in the world can throw non-stop 4 baggers to win a championship. That is NOT the bag for you!
Advice I would give the newer players is start where most of us started, with a Slide-Rite bag. With a slick n stick bag you get the best of both worlds, a slow and a fast side. If you find yourself using the fast side only, transition to a fast and faster bag. Trust me, you can learn a lot about your play style and throw from that bag. Ask many players what the first bag they had in their hand and I bet the answer is a Slide-Rite.
The bag market can definitely be overwhelming with so many bag makers offering numerous series each. It can be tough to narrow it down the 1 bags. But we created a small quiz where your answers can help us recommend bags for you to try. Check out our Cornhole Bag Recommendations quiz. Find the right bags for the right price and stop over-paying for bags that you will not even use.
