The frozen lake

Where you are

A frozen lake in a mountain valley on a bright winter day. The lane runs across the shore ice, and the board stands a metre from the edge of it. Past the board the lake is open water between steep, snow-covered peaks, and far out a fisher sits in a rowboat, jigging his rod. The match opens with the camera coming down from high over the valley to the throwing line.

What happens here

• Throw long into the open water and a pike’s wake races in under it, then the pike leaps out, from the left or the right, catches the bag in its jaws and dives back under with it.
• Now and then it misses: its jaws snap shut on air, the bag drops in, and the pike belly-flops after it.
• Sink one in the hole and the ice cracks out from under the board, more of it with every cornhole in a row; hit the board and the ice creaks.
• A bag that lands on the ice cracks it, and one that hits the water too close to the ice sinks with a splash.
• Three board prints, one drawn per match, on the lake’s own weathered timber: the pike, the peaks, and the ice camp.

Play here

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Other venues

• The superyacht: Teak deck, open water, and overprotective dog.
• Holy Crap Farm: Packed dirt, gold corn, and a muck heap that swallows your misses.
• Last Toss Cemetery: Iron gates, a crooked manor, and something under the dirt that wants your bag.
• The jungle: A mudbank, a slow brown river, and three pairs of eyes.
• The arena: Stage lights, a full house, and a hush before every throw.
• The tailgate: Tailgates down, the grill going, and the floodlights coming on.

All venues