Cornhole

(WIP REV 97)
Cornhole comes to the ColecoVision, from the backyard to your television. Each frame, both players throw four bags at the board: 1 point for a bag on the board, 3 for a bag in the hole. At the end of a frame, the first to 21 wins.

Before each throw, step left or right with the joystick to choose your line; a white diamond on the board shows where your line meets the hole. Then choose your shot, press and hold to wind up, and let go a moment after the soft tick: a perfect release earns a crisp tick and the truest throw, while letting go early lands short and late lands long. With a Super Action Controller, each color button throws its own. YELLOW is the slider, which lands short and slides on, into the hole, past it, or into the bags in its way. ORANGE is the airmail, a high lob that drops straight onto the hole: the most accurate shot, but it doesn't slide. PURPLE is the blocker, a soft toss that stops on the front of the board to guard the hole. BLUE is the push, a flat, hard throw that is the least accurate but drives the bags it hits up the board, and sometimes into the hole. With a standard controller, press 1 to 4 on the keypad to pick the shot, then hold either button and let go; the button alone throws the slider.

The board gets crowded. A bag that lands on another knocks it: hit it square and it jumps up the board, clip its edge and it only nudges aside, and a bag knocked into a third can move that one too. Knock a bag off the edge and it's out; knock one into the hole and it scores 3 for whoever threw it, just as in the real game. The mini-board beside the court shows every bag from above, so you always know what you're aiming at.

Play the computer or play a friend. Pick Standard scoring, where both players keep what they score, or Cancellation, where only the frame's winner scores, and only the difference. At the end of each frame the scores flash, the players walk to the other end to a "Charge!" fanfare, and the view turns around, from a mountain sunset to a city skyline. Win, and the closing screen shows the final score: press the button for a rematch, or # for the menu. Press * at any time in a game to pause.

Sink a bag and your player jumps for joy while the screen flashes in your color. Flocks of geese pass overhead, birds chirp and a cicada hums between throws, and an original song opens the game. Every bag sounds like what it hit: a wooden tok on the board, a scrape as it slides, a thud in the grass, a clack when it knocks another bag, a falling "fwoop" through the hole. At game point a quiet pulse tells you this throw matters, and the winner gets a tune. With a Lundy speech module Super Action Cornhole talks: it calls each frame and game point, announces bags in the hole ("In the hole!", "Three points!") and bags knocked out, cheers four in the hole, reads the score after every frame and names the winner, and the voice switches off from the menu.