Cornhole world championships in Valley Forge brings players from all over US

American Corn Hole League's World Championships.
Photo credit Justin Udo/KYW Newsradio
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A game once only associated with backyard barbecues has recently soared in popularity so much that its world championships were held this weekend in the Delaware Valley, and players came from all over the country for a chance to win thousands of dollars.

Lester Price traveled all the way from Kentucky to the Valley Forge Casino for the American Corn Hole League's World Championships.

"I did pretty well. I ended up winning the Armed Forces Challenge," Price said. 

He said the sport, where you toss small bags into wooden planks with holes in them, has really taken off.

"I started back in 2009 in a couple little small bars. The bags back then were just full of corn. That's why it's called corn hole," he explained. 

The world championships saw more than 1,000 people compete for more than $180,000 in prize money.

For Barry Beresford who came from West Virginia, prize money is the icing on the cake.

He said he enjoys the competition and comradery.

"It's really fun. All my life I've done wrestling one on one, and I boxed and done things like that. So now, getting older you can't do that stuff any more, so this is the natural progression, to go out and compete head against people," Beresford said. 

John Kitchin started playing cornhole about 5 years ago while he and some friends were out tailgating.

"I'm a season ticket holder for the Eagles. I was just playing in the parking lot, and someone came up and asked me to play in a league," he said. 

Tune in to @KYWNewsradio to hear about this guy, who was a big 10k winner at this weekends @iplaycornhole World Championship in King Of Prussia pic.twitter.com/a6asoB086X

— Justin Udo (@JustinUdo) August 11, 2019

Since then, he's gotten pretty serious about the sport. 

Over the weekend, his hard work and dedication paid off when he won $10,000 and free pizza for the year.

"I really haven't had a chance to digest it all yet. I'm still kind of in disbelief winning the whole thing," Kitchin said. 

He's going to keep on training and get ready for next season, where he plans on playing in at least 30 tournaments.

"The better I do, the more I want to come back. It's been good," he said. 

The competition has become so popular it was broadcast on ESPN.