Pétanque

Petanque is a form of boules where the goal is to throw metal balls as close as possible to a jack (a small wooden ball called a cochonnet in French, which means piglet). The game is normally played on hard sand, but can also be played on grass or any other surface. Similar games are bocce and bowls.

Pétanque is generally associated with southern France, particularly Provence.

Rules

The game can be played individually or in teams. In competitions there are three different configurations:

• three players per team (with two balls per player)
• two players per team (with three balls per player)
• one player per team (with three balls per player)

The balls are made of metal and weigh between 650g and 800g, with a diameter of between 705mm and 800mm. The jack is made of wood and has a diameter of between 25mm and 35mm.

The playing area should be at least 12 metres long, by about 3 metres wide.

A player from the team that wins the toss starts the game by drawing a circle on the playing field (35 to 50cm in diameter). Both feet must be inside this circle when playing. The player then throws the jack to a distance of between 6 and 10 metres from the starting circle. The jack must be visible and at least 1 metre from any obstacle or boundary, otherwise it must be thrown again.

The same player then plays the first ball, trying to place it as close to the jack as possible. Then the opposing team plays their first ball. The team whose ball is closer to the jack is said to be holding the point. The team not holding the point continues playing until they either take over the point or run out of balls.

When one team runs out of balls the other team plays their remaining balls.

A player may choose to place a ball (get it as near as possible to the jack) or fire it (attempt to displace another ball).

A point is scored for each ball that is nearer to the jack than the opposing team's nearest ball.

The team that wins a turn starts the next turn and a new circle is drawn where the jack was in the previous round.

One set is usually to 13 points.

History

Pétanque is reputed to have been invented around 1910 as a less physically demanding form of jeu provençal. Physical effort was reduced by reducing the length of the pitch by roughly half and replacing a moving delivery with a stationary one.

The international Petanque federation Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal was founded in 1958 in Marseille and has about 600 000 members in 52 countries (2002).

The first world championships was held in 1959.