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Abstract--A common staple of tailgating events and outdoor
parties, Cornhole (also known as Bean Bag Toss) involves two
competing teams throwing differently colored bean bags across a
lawn at a slanted platform with a hole in its middle. This project
describes a prototype of an automated Cornhole scoring system
which uses radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology to
track bags and display the score during play. The board uses a
microcontroller and a multiplexer to connect an RFID reader to
multiple antennas placed below the center hole and laid out
across the platform.
The game of Cornhole has proven to be incredibly popular
despite its simplicity; however, currently the score must be
recorded mentally or through other manual methods. This
system provides a more convenient way for players and
spectators to enjoy the game. If this product is mass produced,
the market for novelty electronic Cornhole boards could be
lucrative.
Index Terms--Radiofrequency identification, radiofrequency
integrated circuits, electromagnetic fields, microcontrollers,
RFID tags, transmitting antennas, light emitting diodes,
multiplexing
I. NOMENCLATURE
RFID – Radio frequency identification, this technology
uses antennas to generate radio frequency fields which
activate and identify tags passing through.
HF RFID – High frequency RFID systems that operate at a
standard frequency of 13.56MHz. Comparable to cheaper, less
effective low frequency (LF) systems and more expensive and
effective ultra-high frequency (UHF) systems.
LED – Light emitting diode.
II. INTRODUCTION
HE Automatic Cornhole Scoring System is a revolution-
ary new product that streamlines the experience of the
already popular game of Cornhole. The game involves two
competing players throwing colored bags from a distance at a
raised platform and earning points by landing on top or falling
through a hole in the board. The goal of this project was to
design a prototype board which calculates and displays the
score automatically, freeing up the players to focus solely on
Financial support for the project was provided by the Department of
Electrical Engineering at the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina.
Some contributions of supplies for the project were provided by Mr.
Button, Mr. Dille, Mr. Robbins and Mr. Westerberg.
James Joshua Button, Stephen Fletcher Dille, Rolland Thomas Robbins
and Roger Andrew Westerberg, Jr. are electrical engineering undergraduate
students at the Citadel, 171 Moultrie St, Charleston, SC 29409 USA.
(e-mail, respectively: jbutton@citadel.edu, dilles1@citadel.edu,
rrobbins@citadel.edu, rwesterb@citadel.edu)
playing the game. This was done using RFID technology
imbedded inside the board and bean bags.
This project was not the first attempt at designing an
automated Cornhole board. While previous attempts have used
RFID to count bags falling through the hole, bean bags laying
on top of the platform were tallied by a camera system that
differentiated the teams’ bags by color [1]. This design proved
functional but impractical for the real world market, since the
bulky and fragile camera detracted from the convenience and
marketability of the game. By incorporating the less obtrusive
RFID technology across the entire board, this new prototype
eliminates the major shortcoming of the previous system and
offers a product potentially viable for the commercial market.
This document describes the technology integrated inside
the Automated Cornhole Scoring System board prototype,
which uses microprocessors and RFID systems to track
players’ scores during gameplay and display the score on a
scoreboard built into the board itself. Background information
on the game is provided first, followed by the specifications
and goals of the project. The various systems inside the board
are then described in detail, followed by a summary of the
timeline and cost of the project. Applications of this prototype
and possible other uses of the technology are then discussed,
followed by a summary of the project. Biographies, references
and additional information related to the project can be found
at the bottom of this document.
III. PROJECT OVERVIEW
HE document will now go over the various aspects of the
Automated Cornhole Scoring System project, and the
steps leading to the construction of a prototype board. First
background information is presented and the goal of the
project’s prototype defined. Then the features of the prototype
board and other components are described, followed by an
explanation of the electrical components that allow the
automatic board to function. The timeline and budget of the
project concludes this portion of the paper.
A. Background Information
The game of Cornhole, being a simple game where players
compete by throwing bags at a raised platform, has proven to
very popular, with wooden boards being sold at a significant
profit. However, currently the score must be recorded
mentally or through other manual methods, such as a static
display listing the numbers 0 through 21 with movable
markers that must be adjusted by hand throughout the game.
While manual scoreboards simplify the game to an extent, the
players themselves must still tally up the scores for both teams
using the process described below.
Automated Cornhole Scoring System
James Joshua Button, Stephen Fletcher Dille, Roland Thomas Robbins,
and Roger Andrew Westerberg Jr., Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Seniors, The Citadel
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Play consists of two competing players throwing differently
colored bean bags across a lawn and onto a raised, slanted
platform with a single hole near the top. It is also often played
with two teams of two, using a second platform and set of
bags. While this project does not include a second board,
wireless capabilities could be easily implemented given more
development time. Two team members throw the second set of
bean bags at a board in the opposite direction, placed 27 feet
from the front edge of the first board. After four tosses per
player, the bean bags are tallied up, with three points given for
bags thrown through the hole, one point per bag resting on the
platform, and no points given for bags that miss or fall off the
edges of the platform. The lower score is then subtracted from
the higher score and the difference given to the winning team.
The first team to reach or pass 21 points in this manner is the
winner.
B. Purpose of Project
The project’s goal was to design and build an Automatic
Cornhole Scoring System which would streamline the manual
scorekeeping process. This system primarily consists of a
Cornhole board prototype which is capable of tracking and
displaying the current score during play. This system prevents
confusion during the game and allows players and spectators
to enjoy the game more conveniently. History has shown that
convenience sells, so this revolutionary prototype opens up a
whole new market of high-end electronic Cornhole boards.
C. Project Specification
The automated Cornhole board consists of a wooden
platform with a hole cut out towards the back edge, cut to
official American Cornhole Association specifications [2].
The board is equipped with a radiofrequency identification
antenna system that can detect and differentiate between eight
bean bags divided evenly between two teams. A micro-
controller tallies one point per bag laying on the platform at
the end of a round and three points per bag that had fallen
through the center hole, and displays the score on a scoreboard
consisting of four LED displays embedded inside the platform.
A transparent acrylic layer is placed on top to provide a
smooth playing surface. Fig. 1 illustrates the placement of the
scoreboard and general design of the wooden frame.
Fig. 1. A three dimensional model of the automated Cornhole board 4-foot
long by 2-foot wide with center hole antenna and LED scoreboard placement.
Omitted is a wooden platform layer between the clear top surface and
electrical components underneath, which houses the scoreboard and the RFID
antenna system.
Three manual switches and pushbuttons are embedded in
the back of the board to activate the system, end a round, and
reset the game. For the project to be considered successful, all
systems must function together with at least 95% accuracy.
D. Functional Specification
1) Microprocessor and Manual Controls:
At the core of the Automated Cornhole Scoring System is
an Arduino microprocessor [3], which calculates the score and
controls all the other electrical components of the board. The
microcontroller controls the multiplexer and follows an
algorithm to select which antenna is active at any particular
time. Some manual controls are used to control the device,
laid out as shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Layout of manual controls. A power switch turns the system on and
off, a reset pushbutton will restart the game, and a next round button ends the
round after all bags are thrown and starts the next round after the score is
tallied. A green LED indicates an active board and shuts off in between
rounds.
2) Internal RFID System:
A high-frequency RFID reader and 8-port HF multiplexer
are integrated with the microprocessor. The RFID reader sends
an RF signal through one of the antennas to generate an RF
field [4]. The multiplexer selects when each antenna is active
[5], running the antenna under the center hole continuously
during play and then cycling through the seven platform
antennas one at a time at the end of a round. The bean bags are
integrated with two passive RFID tags each, which activate
and alert the reader of their location when they enter the RF
field [6]. Every tag has its own unique signature which allows
the reader to identify the particular bag.
3) Center Hole Antenna System:
The center hole’s antenna is secured on the outside of a
cylindrical chute directly underneath the center hole. Five
loops built out of copper wire are connected in parallel to each
other and to an antenna matching circuit1
. This circuit adds the
capacitance needed to the system to achieve a 1:1 reading
between the antenna and the reader. Although splitting the
antenna circuit weakens the individual strength of each loop,
1
An antenna matching circuit is constructed out of capacitors connected in
parallel [7]. Parallel resistors may also be used to decrease antenna strength if
necessary. The capacitance must be adjusted to be tuned with the antenna’s
resonance with the frequency of the RF signal. While this value can be
estimated through equations, fine tuning is a process of trial and error with
different capacitors or, preferably, a variable capacitor until the maximum
possible gain is found. A network analyzer [8] can help with this process, or
the size of the RF field can be measured experimentally by running and
monitoring the RFID reader while moving a tag along the field’s edges.

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the opposing fields of the neighboring parallel antennas feed
into each other and strengthen the signal overall. The
configuration of the wires and resulting RF field are shown in
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. A sketch of the center hole’s antenna system illustrating a tag passing
through the field generated by the parallel loops.
4) Platform Antenna System:
Seven pairs of parallel copper loop antennas lay evenly
spaced along the surface of the platform, different only by
wrapping around the center hole. Together the antennas cover
the entire area of the Cornhole board, as shown in Fig. 4. Each
pair has its own tuned matching circuit and is connected to the
reader through one of the multiplexer’s ports. The current
flows counterclockwise in every loop, which avoids creating
dead spots in the center of the board where the loops are close
enough to affect each other.
Fig. 4. An overhead sketch of the platform’s antenna system giving the size
and placement of the seven pairs of loop antennas, with left and right
matching antennas connected to each other. The blue dots indicate where
holes were driven through the wooden platform layer to allow wires to
connect to the tuning circuits secured underneath.
5) Scoreboard:
The score is displayed on two pairs of two red LED seven-
segment displays. The displays are wired to the Arduino
microprocessor through a voltage regulator, allowing the
scoreboard to operate at a higher voltage than the rest of the
system.
6) Power:
The board is powered by eight AA batteries connected to all
the various systems, which are capable of powering the
Cornhole board continuously for over four hours. The
microprocessor receives power directly from the battery power
source, while the RFID reader, multiplexer, and LED displays
are powered through different voltage regulators to run on
their recommended voltage.
7) System Integration:
All the various systems of the board are integrated together
and communicate with each other in the manner shown in Fig.
5. For the purposes of this project, a fully functional prototype
of one automated Cornhole board has been built. Eight bean
bags are used for testing and demonstration.
Fig. 5. A block diagram of the Automatic Cornhole Scoring System, illustrat-
ing in what manner the various components communicate and interact with
each other.
E. Testing Procedures and Reliability
To test the center hole antenna systems, the reader,
microprocessor and antenna were integrated to the frame and
RFID tags integrated in four blue and four yellow bean bags.
Bean bags were dropped or thrown at the center hole at
various speeds and angles, and multiple bags were dropped in
rapid succession. The platform antenna was tested in a similar
manner, using multiple bags spread out across the board. For
the test to be considered successful, all bags that fell through
the center hole or landed on the platform must be tallied
accurately and the correct number of points given to the
correct team. System initiation, manual controls and the
scoreboard were tested through standard operation of the
automated Cornhole board, as perfect performance by these
systems is necessary for the device to operate.
Meeting the project specifications, all components of the
cornhole system functioned with at least 95% reliability. The
microcontroller responded to switch commands to successful-
ly activate and control the antennas, RFID reader, multiplexer,
and scoreboard upon startup every time. The RFID reader was
able to read bags that fell through the center hole or remained
on the platform at the end of a round with at least 95%
reliability, as well as ignore bags lying on the ground beside
the board. The microcontroller correctly calculated and
displayed the score with this data, and responded to
pushbutton commands to end the round or reset. The game
was able to operate on its embedded power supply for at least
four hours consecutively.

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F. Project Timeline
The Automated Cornhole Scoring System project took place
over a nine month period from August 2013 through April
2014. Preliminary designs and planning of the project were
done during the first two months of the project. This part of
the process involved rudimentary mapping out of the systems
in the automated Cornhole board and brainstorming various
ideas to meet the goals laid out in the project specification.
During this time alternate approaches for the project were
discussed but ultimately discarded, such as using weight
sensors as a redundant system to assist in counting bags on the
platform and alternate methods of displaying the score such as
a wirelessly connected standalone scoreboard or a Smartphone
application via BlueTooth [9].
Over the next two and a half months, from October to mid-
December, the initial design and demonstration of various
components of the board had begun. The wooden platform
frame was built and preliminary antennas for the center hole
and platform were built. A professionally built rectangular
loop antenna was secured to a small hinged board beneath the
hole at a slant. As bags fell through the hole and slid past, the
reader would detect the bags with a moderate but not
satisfactory degree of reliability. The design would eventually
be reworked. A large copper foil loop antenna encompassing
the entire platform was built and tested, but was unable to
create any significant field. The antenna design was built for a
4W reader, but readers with that power output are no longer
manufactured. The 200mW readers available could not
feasibly power an antenna that size. Additionally, both PIC18
and Arduino microprocessors were used to run the readers and
other components, with the Arduino being chosen for the final
project due to its C++ based programming language. Initial
testing of the BlueTooth modules and seven segment displays
also began during this time frame. To demonstrate proof of
concept, a small scoreboard was integrated to the Cornhole
board and tallied three points per bag dropped or thrown
through the center hole.
Over late December the redesigned cylindrical center hole
antenna was built, integrated and tested. By the end of
February, two months later, significant designing and testing
had gone into different copper wire loop antennas for the
platform. Viable antenna size continued to be a limiting factor,
but this issue was resolved with the 8-port multiplexer. New,
larger passive RFID tags proved vital in increasing the range
of the antennas. Also during this time period difficulties in
implementing the BlueTooth sticks, a third party attachment
with poor customer support, with the Arduino persisted.
BlueTooth was ultimately discarded in favor of the more user
friendly XBee wireless module [10].
Over the last two months up until the end of April, the
platform antenna system was constructed and integrated onto
the board. The scoreboard was embedded into the board and
voltage regulators were designed and built to provide the
correct voltage to the different components. The clear acrylic
layer was placed on top, the manual controls were implement-
ted, and all the electrical components were secured underneath
the board. At this point, although it had been partially
integrated to the microprocessor, the wireless capabilities of
the board were discarded due to time restraints as it was
decided wirelessly connectivity was not a vital aspect of the
concept to prove. Finally, the RFID tags were integrated with
the bean bags and the system was adjusted during the final
testing process until the necessary reliability was achieved.
G. Budget
The project had an estimated budget of $1,000. The project
was completed slightly under budget with the exact cost being
$980.17. Of this total, approximately $630 was used on the
RFID components, including $120 for the HF RFID reader
and $260 for the 8-port HF multiplexer. $110 was spent on the
Arduino microcontroller and its related components. While
neither BlueTooth nor XBee wireless components were used
in the final Cornhole board, roughly $200 was spent on them.
The LED displays cost $45, and the board frame cost $45. Fig.
6 graphically summarizes how the budget was divided among
the project’s various systems.
Fig. 6. A pie graph illustrating the percentage of the Automated Cornhole
Scoring System’s $980.17 budget spent on the various systems and
components.
It should be noted that many of the smaller and cheaper
components used in the Cornhole board were purchased by the
team members or salvaged from previous Citadel senior
design projects, and the cost of these components is not
factored into the official budget above. These additional costs
include $47 in RFID-related hardware, $27 in scoreboard
components, $41 for the power supply, $28 for frame
hardware, and $79 for miscellaneous components. If these
costs are factored in and the cost of unused components taken
out, the actual cost of the Automated Cornhole Scoring
System is $958.67.
IV. CONCLUSION
HE Automated Cornhole Scoring System is a high-end
product offering greater convenience to a preexisting
market. The public has shown that there is a market for
automated scoring systems streamlining the experience of
common, popular games. For example, most bowling alleys
now keep track of the players’ scores automatically so players
can focus solely on playing the game without having to
calculate and record scores manually, and these systems have
proven to be very successful. The game of Cornhole is already
popular and well-known, with regular boards and bean bag
sets priced at $100 or more, significantly higher than the cost
of materials and construction. With the cost of an automated
Cornhole board lowered through mass production, the product
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could be sold at a profit to people desiring a more convenient
experience. Additionally, Cornhole boards can be found at
sports bars and other similar establishments which would
benefit from providing an automated experience for customers
to enjoy.
The RFID technology utilized by the scoring system allows
for accurate, unobtrusive scorekeeping that enhances the game
without hindering gameplay. Previous automated Cornhole
boards using color-distinguishing cameras to count bags lying
on the platform have proven functional but impractical for the
real world market. All components of the Automated Cornhole
Board System are hidden inside and underneath the board,
thus the board is sturdier and more compact than previous
attempts and provides the same user-friendly experience as
standard wooden Cornhole boards. The built-in LED
scoreboard provides additional convenience and accessibility
for players to enjoy the game. While wireless communication
with a second board was ultimately discarded during this
project, it would not be difficult to implement in future models
and would provide even more convenience.
The technology used in the prototype could also be adapted
to other popular, manually operated games and open up new
markets of convenience. Any game involving objects falling
through small holes, such as miniature golf, could incorporate
similar technology to streamline the players’ experience. The
RFID systems utilized in this project offer an example of a
very unobtrusive way to streamline gameplay and could
potentially be the future of automated entertainment.
V. BIOGRAPHIES
Roland Robbins was born in Rocky Mount, NC on
November 17, 1960. He graduates from the Citadel
in the fall of 2014 with a B.S. in Electrical
Engineering.
His 28 years of employment experience as an
electronics technician included work for the United
States Navy and a number of defense contracting
companies, where he trouble-shot and repaired a
wide range of communication systems used in
military applications to communicate between air,
land and surface platforms. While working in the Defense Contracting
industries he assisted in the design of equipment interfaces for a number of
voice and data communication systems.
Roger Andrew Westerberg was born in Charles-
ton, SC on May 3, 1978. He graduates from the
Citadel on May 10, 2014 with a B.S. in Electrical
Engineering. He also finished his A.S. in Electronics
Engineering Technology at Trident Technical
College in May 2000.
His employment experience includes over 13
years as an Electronic Technician at Robert Bosch
LLC, where he gained experience working with
robots, lasers, computer networking and program-
able logic controllers.
Andrew passed the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam in the fall of 2013.
James Joshua Button was born in Panama City, FL
on April 18, 1990 and grew up in Duxbury, MA. He
has lived around Charleston, SC for the last twelve
years. He graduates from the Citadel on May 10,
2014 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He also
graduated from Trident Technical College with an
Associate in Science degree in May 2012, after
which he completed another year focusing on
electrical engineering.
Joshua worked as a gardener at Magnolia Plant-
ation and Gardens and as a dock associate at Dillard’s to support himself
while in college.
He passed the Fundaments of Engineering Exam in the fall of 2013. He
was inducted into Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society in November 2013
and into the Phi Kappa Phi honor society in April 2014.
Stephen Dille was born in Charleston, SC on April
28, 1991. He graduates from the Citadel in the fall
of 2014 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. His
three internship experiences as an electrical intern
spanned five years and included work for SPAWAR
SSC Atlantic, Rockhill Utility Company, and DWG
Consulting Engineers.
While working for SPAWAR, he worked on
various SAVER projects that provided information
to emergency responders about the equipment best
suited for their needs. While working in Rockhill, he maintained the GIS
System for the city’s power grid and put together the company’s biannual
assessment portfolio. At DWG Engineering, he designed electrical, mech-
anical, plumbing and architectural floor plans for numerous projects using
Revit and AutoCAD.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of
their faculty advisors Dr. John Peeples and Dr. Harold Askins,
who both provided invaluable feedback, suggestions, advice
and support throughout the project.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of
Dr. Ron Hayne, who provided RFID hardware and a PIC18
microcontroller necessary to begin the initial testing of the
board’s concepts.
The authors also gratefully acknowledge electronics tech-
nician Mr. Bart Knapp for his assistance in purchasing and
ordering the components used in the project.
VII. REFERENCES
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[Online]. Available: http://ece.citadel.edu/skinner/papers/ICB.pdf
[2] The American Cornhole Association. (2009, Jul. 13). ACA Official
Rules of Cornhole / Corn Toss. [Online]. Available: http://
www.playcornhole.org/rules.shtml
[3] Arduino. (2014). Arduino Mega 2560. [Online]. Available: http://
www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMega2560
[4] SkyeTech, Inc., Denver, CO. (2012). SkyeModule M2 Datasheet.
V070313. [Online]. Available: http://www.skyetek.com/docs/m2/
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[5] SkyeTech, Inc., Denver, CO. SkyePlus MXH. [Online]. Available:
http://www.skyetek.com/Portals/0/Documents/Products/
SkyePlus_MXH_DataSheet.pdf
[6] Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, TX. (2010, Apr.). Tag-it HF-I Plus
Transponder Inlays. Miniature Rectangle. [Online]. Available: http://
www.ti.com/lit/ds/scbs832a/scbs832a.pdf
[7] Microchip Technology Inc., Chandler, AZ. (2003). Antenna Circuit
Design for RFID Applications. [Online]. pp. 19-25. Available: http://
ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/AppNotes/00710c.pdf
[8] Agilent Technologies. (1994). Hewlett Packard 8753D Network
Analyzer. [Online]. Available: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/
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[9] MikroElektronika. BlueTooth Stick Manual. [Online]. Available: http://
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[10] Digi International Inc., Minnetonka, MN. (2009, Sep. 23). XBee / XBee-
Pro RF Modules. Product Manual v1. [Online]. Available: https://
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