Cornhole, a simple yet addictive pastime with Midwestern origins, is sweeping the Northeast. This summer — from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn, and from the Hamptons to the Catskills —the satisfying thump of weighted sacks hitting plywood reverberated across New York area beaches, lawns, rooftops and city sidewalks. Its mainstay is fall and the football season, when cornhole is also known as “tailgate toss” (a name that might sound better to folks who prefer to avoid the rude double entendre).

One of the men responsible for spreading the gospel of cornhole in New York is Bill Hemmer, 46, the Fox News anchor. “I find it to be a very charming, passive, social summer game until you get to the moment where you have a close game and you have to score or you lose,” he said recently in his backyard in Sag Harbor, N.Y., before a game involving four players, including one new convert. “What I find is they remember the day that they first played. For the first-timers, it makes a memory for them.”