TEXARKANA, Ark. - On a Tuesday night at Crossties downtown, bags are being thrown - gracefully and, one by one, in quick succession.
Dozens of players, relaxed groups of family and friends, spread out across the ground floor of this spacious event venue with its tall ceilings and brick walls, eight lanes of two platforms apiece set up for the players, young and old and in- between.
They assemble here for a weekly cornhole tournament, which can bring nearly a hundred players together to test their skills at tossing a roughly 6-inch by 6-inch and 16-ounce bag from one platform to the other, with boards resting 27 feet apart in a court.
Arcing through the air, cornhole bags land and slide. And if they score the thrower some points, they've rested on the board or dropped through the hole, no points if they fail to do either.
Event organizers call out the pairings as the matchups switch, players with names like Downtown Brown, Magic Mike and Green Machine. Ball caps, fuzzy beards and goatees are plentiful, as are the Miller Lites and Michelob Ultras, jeans and athletic shorts, a few cowboy hats perched atop the players' heads.
The players are mostly men, but a few women and teen girls play. One man sports a T-shirt emblazoned with a motorcycle design and the words "Fight or Die." Reportedly, a 12-year-old kid could beat many of the adults here. He's called an "up and comer."
Music blasts, country and classic rock mostly, and pretty soon John Mellencamp is singing about American kids from the heartland, and then minutes later "Freebird" flies from the PA system.
Ark-La-Tex Baggers hosts the weekly tournament here, which packs the nearby parking along East Broad Street. The venue bar opens one room over and a band pounds out live music from the stage there in the lounge.
"I guess it's because all of us has-beens who can't make it in any other sport," Nicholson jokes about the popularity. He started playing in get-togethers at the lake and in the backyard. "Just more and more people started playing, and you look on ESPN and there it is."
He thinks it's the hottest thing going, having grown so quickly in the Four States Area that one can play in a cornhole tournament every night of the week. They're averaging about 55 players a week now, a bit down from the previous high with more outside activities going on with spring arriving.
"When we were at our peak, we were averaging between 85 and 90 every Tuesday. We sustained that probably three months," Nicholson said. They started up at Crossties around September of last year.
He was a part of just a handful of folks who played at a local VFW, but they wanted to start a league. "The next thing you know, old Jed's a millionaire," Nicholson joked.
His friend Buddy Ross helps run the Tuesday tournament. It gives them a way to fire up that competitive spirit with their pals and and make new ones, he says. Throw bags, have a good time - that's what it's all about.
"All of us, the main group of 11, I'd say most of us were softball players. We've done the softball circuit and your body breaks down," Ross said.
Manufacturers put different fillings in the bags, Nicholson explained, such as resin. "There's different types, there's different styles of bags." It's like baseball bats and personal preference.
"The regulations are the boards are 27 feet apart. You get four bags to throw. Every bag that lands on the board is one point, and every bag that goes in the hole is three points. You tally up your scores and each score counts, and then you offset; whoever has more points for the round gets the points for the score," Nicholson said.
A match goes to 21 points, the winner reaching 21 first.
"There's some people that just show up to visit and hang out," Ross said. "You've got some that's more serious about it. Everybody just has fun."
He was sporting a "Proud Texan" T-shirt, but he readily points out that cornhole isn't just a Texas thing. Visitors to the weekly tournament hail from across the region. "Right now tonight, we'll have Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana represented," he said.
Nicholson reckons they may be the only group with all four states participating. It's a multi-generational game, too, with player ages ranging from 12 to nearly 70.
What makes a good cornhole toss? Practice, practice and practice. Put the time in to perfect that throw.
"Whatever you get comfortable with, I believe, whatever you can throw a straight bag," Ross said. If you observe the matches, people may exhibit different styles but still throw a good bag.
"Everybody has a different style, a different release, a different motion," Nicholson said. "It's just however you get comfortable, and you just throw and throw every day."
It doesn't matter how the bag gets there, as long as it gets there and gets in the hole, he said. One rule: You cannot cross the front of the board with your foot before releasing the bag.
Fourteen-year-old Kyleigh Purtle was one of those younger folks showing their true aim on the cornhole courts.
"I just love the game. I'm real competitive so I love it, and whether you win or lose I still walk off with a smile on my face," she said.
As to throwing a good bag, she says it's about the approach. She comes down to play with her dad. "I would say keeping your head up and even having a good attitude all the time," Kyleigh said about doing well on bag tossing form.
For Luke "Cool Hand" Knudson, cornhole on Tuesday nights is a way to get his kids out of the house. "It gets them out of the house doing stuff and it's something we do as a family," he said.
He's been playing since Ark-La-Tex Baggers started, modifying his approach to up his game. Everyone has fun and the kids are competitive. It gives them a way to compete at something besides video games all day, he says. People can talk and interact.
He's changing the way he holds the bag and the way he finishes his throw.
"I've been changing stuff, trying to get better, so I'm right in the middle of getting my new throw going and trying to get better so I can beat some of these other guys in here more often," Knudson said.
In addition to their page on Facebook, an app called Scoreholio allows people to look for tournaments here and all over.
(To get involved or find more information, find the Ark-La-Tex Baggers group on Facebook.)