Chapter 2An Introduction to Pétanque
  

Object Of The Game

Pétanque is a simple game. The object of the game is to throw your boules so that they come to rest close a “jack”.   A player or team scores points by having one or more of the boules closer to the cochonnet than the opposition after all boules have been thrown.  In other words after each “end”.

Pointing And Shooting

Pétanque is basically a game about throwing boules. There are 2 categories of throw:

 Pointing - you attempt to have your ball stop close to the jack and gain the point.

Shooting - you attempt to hit the other teams boule (and sometimes the cochonnet) which is in

the way or has the point.

Ideally you should be able to point and shoot, but players tend to specialise and are either “pointers” or “shooters”.

When you start playing you will tend only to point (particularly if you play with experienced players). It is important however that you practice shooting as well and add this skill to your game. You too may then wish to specialise.

There are different techniques to achieve both pointing and shooting and these are explained in the section “Playing Techniques and Tactics”.

The Boule:

• These must be manufactured in metal.
• Diameter between 7.05cm and 8.00cm
• Weight between 0.65kg and 0.80kg
• Stamped with the manufacturer’s name and weight

The Cochonnet (the jack):

• Manufactured in wood
• Diameter between 25mm and 35mm
• Can be painted in any colour according to the playing surface

The Terrain or Piste

Petanque can be played on practically any surface except grass; no elaborate pitches or courts are needed. The play area ideally needs to be roughly 15m x 4m. The surface itself is more interesting if it is slightly uneven and a little loose allowing the play to be more challenging. Much of the skill of Petanque is reading the terrain as well as the opposition.

 

How to Play:

• Petanque can be played in singles, doubles and triples. For singles and doubles each player uses three boules, for triples each player uses only two boules.
• The team that starts the match is decided by the toss of a coin. One member of the winning team chooses the starting place and draws a circle roughly 35 – 50cm on the ground in which to throw from. Both feet must remain in the circle until the thrown boule lands.
• The first player throws the cochonnet so that it lands between 6m and 10m away and not nearer than one metre away from any obstacle.
• He then throws his first boule trying to place it as close to the cochonnet as possible - see 1 above.
• A player from the opposing team then steps into the circle and tries to throw his boule closer to the cochonnet - see 2 above.
• The boule closest to the cochonnet leads, therefore the opposing team must keep throwing until they gain the lead.
• When a team has no more boule left the opposing team throw their boule trying to place them as close to the cochonnet as possible.
• When all boule have been thrown then the points are countered. The winning team is the one with the most amount of boule closest to the cochonnet than the best of the losing team - see 3 above.
• The boule are gathered and a player from the winning team starts the game again from where the previous game ended.

The game continues until one team reaches 13 points.