Pétanque descends from one of the oldest games in human history, the archetype of which involves throwing or rolling an object as close as possible to a marker. Pétanque belongs to a family of ball games that developed in the Mediterranean, today called boules in French and bacci in Italian. In 1907 or 1910 depending on whom one chooses to believe, Jules LeNoir altered an older game, called le Jeu Provençale, thus inventing what eventually evolved into the modern sport of Pétanque.
In the Jeu Provençale, players first draw a circle on the ground, then throw a small wooden ball — called a bouchon or cochonnet or but — out between 12 and 20 meters. Players take turns either pointing or shooting. Pointers try to place their boules as close as possible to the bouchon; to do so, they take one step from the circle, in any direction, and — perched on one leg — roll or throw the ball into the air toward the bouchon. Shooters try to knock the opponent’s balls away from the bouchon; to do so, they run three steps from the circle and, upon the third step — while in the air — throw their boule at the target boule, before the next foot (the fourth step) touches the ground. I am not making this up. The Jeu Provençale is actually a lovely and venerable sport, still played by tens of thousands, primarily in the South of France. The average game takes three to four hours to complete. The most important competitions are the French national championships, usually in June, and the Provençale, which takes place in the Parc Borély in Marseille, in August.
Jules LeNoir was an excellent Jeu Provençale player until an accident left him crippled from the waist down. Although confined to a wheel chair, he began challenging players to a new betting game, involving pointing and shooting at a bouchon by players standing with their feet (or wheels) placed in the circle. The word — Pétanque — is simply short for pieds (feet) tanqués ("securely fastened," or "nailed down," in local dialect).
Jules LeNoir invented Pétanque in La Ciotat, then a thriving shipbuilding city and port found between Marseille and Toulon. Today, the shipbuilding industry is in ruins, and the French Communist Party recently lost their first municipal election in many decades. But there are two more or less professionalized bouledromes (Pétanque courts) in the city: Boulomanes and the exquisite Bouledrome Jules LeNoir. In the summer, these courts host tournaments nearly every day.
