Tauranga Petanque | Maryan Kennedy – Club Captain – 0220708200/075524346

Email: maryan.revelex@gmail.com

How to play Petanque Pétanque (“peh-tahn-k”) is a French game where the goal is to toss or roll hollow steel balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a jack, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground. The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel. Similar games are bocce, bowls and (adapted to ice) curling.

Equipment: • Petanque Balls or “Boule” – these come in sets of 3.

• A “jack” or in French, “cochonnet” – a small wooden ball that is the target

• A plastic circle to stand in and throw from. If you do not have one, it is fine to draw a circle about 40-50cm wide on the ground.

The ground: • Petanque is usually played in a small rectangular ground called a “piste”. However it is fine to play

in open spaces too (there is no need to mark off a particular sized ground)

The teams: • Two teams, of one (singles), two (doubles) or three (triples) people.

• For singles or doubles, each person uses 3 boule each

• For triples, each person has 2 boule each (the other one is set aside for the game)

Play: • After a coin-toss one team starts. The first person to play puts down the circle at one end of the

piste (ground) and tosses out the jack to a distance between 6m and 10m.

Tauranga Petanque | Maryan Kennedy – Club Captain – 0220708200/075524346

Email: maryan.revelex@gmail.com

• If the jack does not land between 6m and 10m, or lands within 1m of either end of the piste or within 0.5m of either side, the other team can place the jack (at a distance of 6m to 10m) and play starts. The team who throws the jack throws the first boule (even if it is placed by the other team).

• Players from each team throw a boule each and the furthest team from the jack always throws the next boule. It is common to use a measuring tape to decide who is closest.

• If one team runs out of boules, the other team throws all of their remaining boules.

• Once all boules are thrown the “end” (or “menne” in French) is finished and points are scored.

Scoring: • After all boules have been thrown, the team with the closest boule to the jack gets 1 point and one

additional point for each boule until the other team has a boule closer.

o For example: If team A has the closest boule and the second closest, while team B has the third closest, team A is awarded 2 points.

• If the jack is moved by a boule and stays in bounds, play continues however players should check who is closest to the jack before continuing.

• If the jack is moved by a boule and goes out of bounds, one of two things happens

o If one team has boule still to throw and the other does not, that team is awarded one point for each boule they are “holding” (have not thrown)

o If both teams still have boule still yet to throw OR both teams have no boule to throw, the end is annulled and play is restarted by the team who started the previous end.

• It is common to use a measuring tape to confirm points.

• The team that wins the point on an “end” starts the next end.

• The game continues until either team has 13 points.

How to throw a Boule: • Boule are thrown underarm, released with the palm upside down and the throwing arm extended

• Players must have both feet in the circle when they throw the boule

• It is common for players to crouch and throw, as well as stand. Both feet must be in the circle (not on the circle edge or partially outside) when the boule is thrown.