Corkaine has its set rules for each game it offers. Whether it’d be Classic, Blackout, Battle, Cornhole, Kubb, Capture the Flag, Pong, Lightning, etc., the rules are given online and the quick start guide is there to get teams playing the games quickly and easily.
Some players though have voiced their opinions on “House Rules” and we listened, so this post is all about popular house rules for Corkaine.
1) RAPID FIRE GAMEPLAY
When 3-4 teams play certain games like Classic or Blackout, teams can decide if they want to play the game differently than what the given rules are for shooting their team’s corks. Instead of waiting for their turn to shoot their corks, each team can shoot whenever they want and never wait for their turn. Advantages are an increase of consistency in making the corks into the cups, but disadvantages can be that you may not notice which cups your opponents are making.
2) RED CUP RULE
In Corkaine tournaments, the red cup rule stands as this: If a team wins the red cup at the end of a round, that team must give up one of their already won black cups from their stash to one of their opponents and that opponent will put it back into an open spot on the gameboard.
House Rule: Instead of having the red cup be a negative cup, it can be a positive cup. Before the start of a game, teams must decide if they want the red cup to stay as a negative cup or if won, it can be a positive outcome where a team that wins it would be able to take one additional black cup off the gameboard for their team’s stash. If played this way, gameplay will move faster.
3) SILVER CUP RULE
The standard silver cup rule is this: If the silver cup/s are won, the team that wins them may rearrange 1 or 2 black cups on the gameboard.
House rule: Instead of just being allowed to move the black cups on the gameboard to new places, teams that win the silver cup/s may move the colored cups as well. If a team wins 1 silver cup, then one black, gold, red, or silver cup can be placed in a different position. If 2 silver cups are won, the team may move any 2 cups to new places on the gameboard. Teams can take advantage of making it easier to win gold cups by moving them closer to their side.
4) PLAY THE MULTIPLIER FOR THE GOLD, RED, AND SILVER CUPS
In all original Corkaine games, teams that have more of their team’s corks in any cup will win that cup and play the rule associated with the cup.
Example: If Team Orange has 4 orange corks in a Gold cup compared to Team Yellow that has 1 yellow cork in that same Gold cup, Team Orange would win the gold cup and thus steal one black cup from Team Yellow’s stash.
House rule: Teams that win a cup will still play the rule of that cup, but they will multiply their winnings or losings by the number of corks they have in that cup after cancellation scoring has been performed.
Example to the house rule: If Team Orange has 4 orange corks in a Gold cup compared to Team Yellow that has 1 yellow in that same Gold cup, Team Orange would win the gold cup and instead of stealing just one black cup from Team Yellow’s stash, they would steal 3 black cups from Team Yellow’s stash. 4 Orange corks minus 1 Yellow cork equals 3. The advantages to this are huge point swings and the ability to win a game quickly.
Note: This is only to be played for the colored cups (gold, red, silver).
5) CORK SHARING AMONG TEAM MEMBERS
We will look at Classic Corkaine for this example. The start of each round usually begins with a player from each team alternating their throws until all 10 of their corks have been thrown and then the next round, player 2 from each team would shoot their 10 corks. Instead of having 1 player from each team shoot all 10 corks, teams split up the corks evenly among their team.
Example: If there are 2 teams of 2, each player from each team is allowed to shoot 5 corks each round instead of just having 1 team member shoot all 10 corks. The advantage of this is allowing each player to shoot every single round. If you are a ringer, then you definitely want to be shooting each round to help carry your team to victory.
