Although there are many specific provisions for special situations, the basic rules of Pétanque are quite simple. One draws a circle, or "round," between 35and 50 centimeters, from which the bouchon is thrown out 6-10 meters. Players then point or shoot with both feet fixed inside the circle. The surface might be sand or hard concrete; it might be full of rocks and sticks, or smooth clay and sand. The best players like more "technical" surfaces, courts that have lots of treacherous features. Great pointers are able not only to roll their boules on smooth surfaces with just the right "weight." They also have to be able to throw the ball high into the air, landing with precision on a "safe" spot selected to get the boule to the bouchon. Great pointers are also able to spin their boules, from left-to-right or right-to-left, in order to avoid other boules or surface obstacles. Great shooters are able to hit balls at 6 or 11 meters, consistently, with equal ease. The best shot is called a "carreau": the shooter throws the ball through the air, with lots of backspin; when it hits, the shooter's ball stays right where the target boule was, spinning into place. A "carreau" effectively gives the shooting team an extra boule, since the ball that was shot now has the point. The next best shot is called a "palais," where the shooter's boule knocks the opponent's boule away, while remaining relatively close to the bouchon, at least enough to count as the point. At the elite level, many games are decided by carreaux and palais, the team making the most win. That said, good pointing is a necessary condition for winning big matches, while good shooting is, at best, merely a sufficient one.
Games are won by the first player or team to reach 13 points. Singles are one-on-one games played with three boules per player. Doubles and triples involve six boules per team. Games are divided into what the French call mènes, what I will call "rounds" or "innings" or "frames." Points are tallied at the end of each round, that is, after all of the boules have been played by both teams. The team that has the boule closest to the bouchon gets one point, plus a point for every other boule that lies closer to the bouchon than the other teams nearest boule. Thus, in doubles or triples, a team could score six points, if each of their boules is closer to the bouchon than the other's team's best boule. The game is structured by another simple rule: a team has to play until it "wins the point," that is, until one of its boules is closer to the bouchon than the other team's best boule.
Although Pétanque has few rules, it is strategically quite rich. If your opponent has the point on the ground, your team has to decide whether to point or to shoot. The decision is based on myriad factors: how many boules each team has left in their arsenals; how likely it is that one can win the point, given the lay of the land and the boules that have already been played; which player, with what kinds of skill, have boules left; and so on. If you shoot every ball and make a palais each time, you will score six points. But shooting balls consistently is one of the most difficult things to do in any sport I know, and missing a ball gives the other team a big advantage. Games typically last between 45 minutes and two hours.
For an English translation of the complete rules of Pétanque, and for information on clubs in the U.S., click here.
