How to play petanque

A backyard needs none of the terrain figure. What it does need is a strip long enough for a 10 meter jack throw plus somewhere to stand, which is about 12 meters — and a surface the boules will bite into rather than plug in. That is covered in best petanque sets.

1. Draw for the first throw. The winning team places the circle anywhere it likes, as long as it sits more than a meter from any obstacle.
2. Throw the jack. From inside the circle, 6 to 10 meters out, and at least a meter clear of anything. If it does not land legally, the other team places it instead.
3. The same team throws the first boule. Both feet entirely inside the circle, not overlapping the line, and they stay there until the boule has touched the ground.
4. Now the other team throws — and keeps throwing until it gets a boule closer to the jack than anything the first team has.
5. Repeat, always from the losing side. Whoever does not hold the point throws next, every time, until one team has no boules left.
6. The team still holding boules throws them all. There is no reason to hold any back; the end is about to be scored.
7. Score the end, then start the next one from a circle placed where the jack finished.

Only one team scores in an end. Find the boule closest to the jack — that team scores, and it scores one point for every boule it has that is closer than the best boule of the other team. So an end is worth anywhere from one to six points.

That maximum is why a single bad end can decide a game to 13, and why the team that is losing an end badly will often try to hit the jack out of position rather than keep placing boules near it.

If the jack gets knocked out of play

The end is scoreless. Nobody takes points for it, and the jack goes back to the team that scored last to start the next end. Knocking the jack away is therefore a real defensive option when you are about to concede five points.

Every throw in petanque is one of two things, and the names are worth knowing because teams call them out loud.

Pointing

The gentle one: roll or lob a boule so it finishes as near the jack as possible. Most throws in most games are points, and a team that points well forces the other side to keep throwing.

Shooting

The aggressive one: throw hard at a specific opponent boule to knock it away, ideally leaving your own boule in its place. It is harder, it is what the heavier steel boule rewards, and it is the reason the game has a federation rather than being a picnic activity.

Neither shot requires strength. You throw standing still with both feet planted, so accuracy is doing all the work — which is why petanque is played competitively across a wider age range than almost anything else on this site.

The practical consequence for buying: an eight-boule set covers doubles, which is the format most households land on. Triples needs twelve boules between six people, so two sets. A six-boule set is singles, or triples with one set shared across a smaller game.

The FIPJP rulebook governs a marked terrain with an umpire. A garden has neither, so three things are worth settling out loud before anyone throws.

• Boundaries. Championship play uses a marked 15 by 4 meter terrain. If your strip is open at the sides, agree what counts as out before a boule rolls into a flowerbed.
• Measuring. Close ends are decided with a tape or string, not an opinion. A set without a measure will produce an argument in the first half hour.
• The jack throw. Six meters is further than it looks. Plenty of garden games shorten it, which is fine — just agree it once rather than per end.

For the surface itself, petanque wants gravel or hardpack rather than lawn, which is the single biggest difference from bocce and the reason it suits a gravel or xeriscaped yard so well.