Petanque

I have mentioned Petanque, which I've never played before the Oxbridge a couple of weeks ago, in my previous post. I had never even heard of the game, and I expect most others never have, either. So, for those intrigued, here's how the game is played (taken from www.britishpetanque.org)

THE PLAY

You play with a metal ball called a “boule” and a jack made from wood. The boules have a diameter from 7.05 to 8.00 cm and a weight from 650 to 800 gram. At first sight they look identical but they differ greatly by being made from different metals with a wide range of markings or engravings

THE AIM OF THE GAME

To place your boules nearer to the jack than those of your opponents.

COMPOSITION OF TEAMS
Pétanque is a sport in which

	3 players play against 3 players (triples), each player uses 2 boules.
	2 players against 2 players (doubles), each player uses 3 boules
	1 player against 1 player (singles), each player uses 3 boules.

START OF THE GAME

To start a game the teams toss a coin to see which team will throw the jack (a small wooden ball of 25-35 mm in diameter). In the following example the Blue team has won the toss.

BEGINNING OF PLAY

A player of the Blue team draws a circle on the ground (35-50 cm diameters) from which the jack is thrown to a distance of 6-10 metres from the circle. When throwing the jack and boules both feet of the player must be within the circle and on the ground, until the played boule has touched the ground.

THE FIRST BALL

The Blue team now play their first ball by trying to get it as close to the jack as possible.

Then the first player of the Red team steps into the circle to play their first boule and it tries to beat the Blue team’s boule.

This can happen in one of two ways either by

POINTING

When the team pitches or rolls their boule, judging the distance so that it stops closer than the opponents boule

or by

SHOOTING

With a purposeful throw the thrown boule removes the opponent’s boule.

IF SUCCESSFUL

It is a player of the Blue team that must now play.

IF NOT SUCCESSFUL

The players of the Red team must continue to play, until either they place a boule closer to the jack than the opponent’s boule or they have no boules left to play.

If a team has no more boules, the other team now plays until they have played all their remaining boules.

THE POINTS

A team receives as many points as it has boules closest to the jack than those of their opponents (at least 1 point to a maximum of 6 points).

In our example Blue made 3 points.

The team winning the end draws the circle and throws the jack to start the next end.

THE END OF A PLAY

The team, which first reaches 13 points, is the winner.

SO VERY SIMPLE – SO WHY SHOULD IT BE SO FASCINATING?

The simple principle of this game leaves plenty of room for tactics and the imagination, with the result that every round looks different.

A tactical mistake is usually more serious than a badly played boule.

With every boule that is to be played, there are so many different ways of playing the game:

- shoot away your opponent’s boule

- obstruct the path to the jack

- change the position of the jack with the boule etc.

PLAYING TECHNIQUE AND TACTICS

In principle, there are two ways of playing a boule - in that you either point or shoot.

When pointing and when shooting, you should keep an eye on the correct hand position: you throw with the palm of the hand turned downwards.

This imparts a certain backspin to the boule, and when you get the hang of the idea, you can manipulate the boule as the nature of the ground and the situation of the game demands.

The tactics however are equally as important as mastering the technique, which is what makes the game so intriguing.

When playing with experienced players you will quickly learn the tactics, you have to make your mind up quickly to choose if a solution is too dangerous or maybe too late nd the only choice is to try and save the game by playing a defensive boule.



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