Branson Cornhole

As we end the OMCC Season, we count your best 7 finishes (45% of 15)! We have 3 scheduled events on Sunday night. The following list of players are considered to be in the MONEY CHASE! The best possible point total would be finishing 1st in the last 3 events.

BEST POSSIBLE FINISH: Estimated total pot is $264.00; top 5 spots are paid. That means ties, so keep that in mind! Breakdown based on $264.00 is 65, 60, 53, 46, 40

Ben J-----68
Mark B---68
Ron H----68
Sean C---68
Alex N----67
Tracey H-66
Joel H----63
Mandy C-63
Rob K----63
Sheila B-61
Rusty S--60

THE BANQUET IS A SEPARATE EVENT! If your name isn’t listed, it’s because you are out of the regular season money chase, sorry! If there is a name in front of you, you really don’t want them to finish in the Top 4 on any Sunday night….LOL, unless, of course, they are your partner!

I found an interesting article on co****le

📉 The Paradox of the Bags: Is Professional Co****le Killing the Backyard Game?
The sport of co****le is having a moment. National leagues broadcast on major sports networks feature prize pools climbing into the tens of thousands. Equipment is specialized, endorsements are common, and the game has never enjoyed higher visibility.
Yet, step into any regional tournament circuit, and the atmosphere often tells a different story. Turnout is down—for three years running in some local amateur leagues. The casual players, the lifeblood of any growing sport, are leaving.
This isn't a simple case of a declining hobby; it's a paradox of success. The national boom in professional co****le is creating a cannibalistic local scene. A handful of dominant "local elite" players are implementing tactics and structures that are actively hostile to the average amateur.
This article argues that the long-term health of co****le is being threatened at its grassroots level. A toxic combination of top-heavy payout models, strategic manipulation, and a power dynamic that prioritizes "stars" over customers is driving away the very players and businesses needed for the game’s sustainability. The real question is not whether co****le is growing, but whether organizers can preserve the social soul of the game before the local elite squeezes the last bit of life out of the barstool circuit.

🎯 The Anatomy of a Dying Scene
The complaints heard from frustrated amateurs in local leagues are consistent and point to a broken financial and competitive structure:
The Payout Trap: Local tournaments often mirror the pro circuit's top-heavy payout model. Imagine a system where the highest, most competitive divisions claim 60% or more of the prize money, leaving developing players fighting for a meager 10% in the "Social" division. This structure offers zero incentive for a new player to consistently pay their entry fee when the same handful of elite players inevitably walk away with the lion's share.
The Sandbagging Crisis: This is the inevitable result of the payout trap. Highly skilled players, who may not be nationally-ranked "Pros" but are dominant locally, intentionally play in lower divisions to secure an easy win and guaranteed cash. This tactic, known as sandbagging, makes the game feel rigged to honest beginners, who quickly grow tired of being defeated by what are essentially local elite players operating below their true ranking.
The Registration Game: Adding insult to injury, these dominant players often practice a subtle form of manipulation. Many will refuse to pre-register, knowing their name on the sign-up sheet would immediately scare away amateur players. This forces amateurs to sign up with the promise of a fun, open bracket, only to have the local sharks appear at the last minute, turning the event into a calculated hustle and leaving the casual players feeling duped.

🍻 The Real Customer vs. The "Star"
The most profound failure of the current model is economic. Local tournaments are rarely about co****le alone; they are a symbiotic relationship between organizers and the host venues, typically bars or breweries.
The venues are not in the "pro co****le" business; they are in the "selling food and drinks" business. And here, the perceived wisdom—that you need the "stars" to draw a crowd—is deeply flawed:
Player Type
Value to the Venue (Bar)
Behavior
The Casual Player
High Value
Stays 3-4 hours, brings friends, buys pitchers, orders food. Is motivated by fun and community.
The Local Elite
Low/Negative Value
Often arrives just before start, focuses intensely, minimizes spending, wins the prize money, and leaves, taking cash out of the host's local economy.

The elite players, while claiming "it's not about the money," actively lobby venues and organizers to block changes (like adding more divisions) that might dilute their prize pool. They have successfully convinced venues that their "legitimacy" is more valuable than the venue's actual profitability. When 30 casual players are intimidated into staying home, the bar loses significant revenue in food and beverage sales, making the tournament a damaging proposition for the venue and an attendance-losing proposition for the organizer.

✅ A Call to Re-Balance the Ecosystem
The current structure is unsustainable. If the local scene dies, the national pro leagues lose their feeder system. To preserve the grassroots game, organizers must adopt a business-first approach that prioritizes the health of the community and the venues that support it:
Protect the Investment: Organizers must prioritize the Social and Beginner divisions by moving away from top-heavy payouts. Implementing "venue-supported" prizes (gift cards, bar tabs, swag) for lower divisions incentivizes spending at the bar, which is the real economic driver.
Define and Enforce "Amateur-Only" Events: The most successful local organizers are now creating leagues that explicitly forbid high-level players—not just national pros, but any player with a rating above a certain local threshold. This creates a safe space where new players can compete fairly and, most importantly, have fun.
Mandate Transparency: Requiring pre-registration and publicly displaying the names and rankings of all participants in all divisions eliminates the "bait-and-switch" tactic, promoting trust and ensuring a level playing field.
The choice is simple: continue to cater to the few "sharks" who are consuming the scene, or fundamentally re-align the tournament model to prioritize the masses who support the venue and ensure the future of the bags.

NOVEMBER 8TH, 2025
Early Bird Special for Co****le Players! 🎯
Missing the ACL events in our area? We've got you covered!
Come out for the ACO Regional Tournament on November 8th at Doling on Atlantic in Springfield, MO!
Register early on Scoreholio (you all know the app) and you'll be entered to win one of SIX valuable door prizes!
Top door prize retail value $150.00! Prizes include:
• Pink Jeep Tour Branson
• 2 tickets to Reza
• 2 tickets to Pierce Arrow
• 2 tickets to MJ (Michael Jackson tribute)
• Plus 2 other prizes!
With no ACL events around here anymore, this is your chance to compete at a regional level right in our backyard. Don't miss out on the competition AND the chance to score some amazing prizes!
Mark your calendars – November 8th at Doling on Atlantic, Springfield MO. See you there!
The only thing you have to have is aco bags and 1 of 3 memberships. FREE, $30 OR $60 memberships. All on scoreholio app under season.
We will start with SENIORS AND WOMENS at 12:00pm. Followed by COED then WORLD DOUBLES then WORLD SINGLES and LEVEL UP SINGLES. All followed by BLIND DRAW!!! There will be a $5 Venue fee. Lets get pre registered and make this a big event.

I’m loving the feedback keep it coming! The goal here is to make improvements and logical changes to save the game!