how to play petanque

where    to    play

Play in an area with hard packed earth and approximately an inch or two of gravel covering its surface.

choose    teams

Divide into two teams. Single player vs single player. Two vs two, three vs three, etc.

select    boules

Both teams select their boules. Each team's boules should have a distinct pattern on them so that each team can easily identify their boules when playing and counting up points. When playing Singles or Doubles, each player uses three boules and for Triples each player uses two.

decide    who    goes   first

Toss a coin to see which team plays first.

toss    the    jack

The team that wins the coin toss chooses the starting location and selects one of their players to throw the jack. The jack is a small wooden ball. 

 The starting location is indicated by a circle that is 14 to 20 inches in diameter and at least three feet from any obstacle. The circle can be drawn with chalk or etched in the dirt with a stick. Once the circle is drawn, the player then stands with both feet inside the circle and throws the jack. The jack can be thrown in any direction but must land within 20 to 30 feet of the starting circle and three feet from any obstacle.

throw    the    boules

All boules must be thrown from within the starting circle and with both feet on the ground. The player attempts to throw the boule so that it lands as close to the jack as possible it is okay to hit the jack. The player must remain inside the circle until the boule has landed. A player from the opposing team then steps into the circle and attempts to land his boule closer to the jack even if it means knocking his opponents out of the way. The boule closest to the jack leads or is said to be "holding the point." The other team must continue throwing boules until they take the lead or run out of boules. There is no order that team members must follow when throwing their boules however, they must only throw their own boules, and they must go one at a time from within the starting circle. If they take the lead, the other team then tries to recover by landing a lead boule.

winning    the    round

The team that has the boule closest to the jack wins the round. The team will also receive a point for each boule that is closer to the jack than their opponents closest boule. Only one team scores points during a round.

starting     a   new   round

Once the points are counted, the next round begins with the winning team. They draw a new starting circle around the final position of the jack in the previous round. The winning team then selects a player to toss out the jack from the new starting circle and then throw out the first boule.

winning    the    game

The first team to earn a total of 13 points wins the game. There is not a required number of rounds that must be played.