TUNKHANNOCK, Pa. — A rainy day no longer has to impact a summertime-favorite yard game, now that Tunkhannock native Tim Mattocks has opened his dream business—a place strictly for playing cornhole.
"Up at the Triton, up in town, we were playing at the firehouse for a while, a bunch of us, probably about 25 or whatever. Then COVID came in, so, 'What are we going to do?' They closed us down. We were like, 'What are we going to do on Sunday now? Where are we going to go?' We went to people's houses; we went to another local bar, there were some other things we did, just to play cornhole," Mattocks explained.
So Mattocks turned his favorite lawn game into a business. Flying Bags Cornhole opened last month on Route 6 near Tunkhannock.
"We'll call it a soft opening only because I didn't really advertise well, and I didn't get a whole big turnout. A lot of my friends showed up, and it was fun. I just wanted to get it out there. Since then, I've gotten my sign up, a lot of things have fallen into place," he said.
Now the business is really starting to take off. It costs $6 per person for an hour of playing. You can show up with just a partner or a big group and get a tournament going. There is also merchandise and bags and boards for sale too.
"Anybody can do it. You see an old person come in and play really well. There's some young kids that come in and play really well. You don't have to be an athlete; it does help. We all think we're athletes. Anybody can do it; anybody can win, it's fun, it's contagious."
Mattocks says that contagious fun is why he loves the game so much. And with a place like this, summer ending soon no longer has to mean corn hole ends, too.
"People are excited about that. Golf is going to end. Softball is going to end; you can't play horseshoes in the house. Come here, we can play corn hole year-round."
Flying Bags Cornhole is open Thursdays through Mondays, and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are league nights.