Brief Rules of Petanque

1. Pétanque is a ball and target game played by two teams of either one (singles), two (doubles) or three players (triples) each. In doubles and singles each player uses three boules. In triples each player uses two boules.

    

2. Players use metal boules: diameter between 70 - 80mm and weight not exceeding 800 grams. The         cochonnet is wooden, and between 25 - 35mm in diameter.

    

3. The first team is chosen by tossing a coin. Any player in this team chooses the starting place, and draws a circle between 35 - 50cm on the ground in which to stand. Both of the thrower's feet must remain on the ground inside the circle until the boule has reached the ground. 

    

4. This player throws the cochonnet between 6 and 10m away, and at least 1m away from any obstacle. 

    

5. A player from the first team throws the first boule, trying to place it as close as possible to the cochonnet.

    

6. A player in team number two comes into the circle and tries to throws their boule nearer to the cochonnet, or knock away the leading boule placed there by the other team. The boule nearest to the cochonnet leads.

    

7. It is then up to a player in the team not leading to throw until their team gets a leading boule, and so on.

    

8. When a team has no more boules, the players of the other team throw their boules and try to 'place' them as close as possible to the cochonnet.

    

9. When the two teams have played all their boules, the points are counted. The winning team gets as many points as it has boules better placed than the best of the losing team.

    

10. A player from the winning team throws the cochonnet from the point where it was for the previous game, and the game starts again until one of the teams gets 13 points and therefore is the winning team.