Q&A for How to Play Petanque

The teams should measure the distance between the throwing circle and the jack. (That's why a tape measure is a standard piece of petanque equipment.) If the distance is less than 6 or more than 10 meters, the thrown jack is considered invalid. Traditionally, the team that threw the invalid jack would throw the jack again. Starting in 2016, however, the international rules changed and now (in official competitions) a team has only one chance to throw a valid jack. If it fails in its one attempt, the jack is turned over to the opposing team which then places it by hand on the terrain.

The officially-recognized way to play includes each team having the same number of players; that number may be one, two, or three people. In informal games where the number of players is limited, people may play with different numbers on the teams; for example, a team of 3 players (playing with 2 boules each) against a team of 2 players (playing with 3 boules each).

It is legal to throw any way you like. However, the most effective way to throw is underarm. As you throw, keep the palm of your hand and the boule toward the ground, with the back of your hand up.

The circle is measured by its inside diameter. A plastic circle must be 50 centimeters in diameter. When players draw a circle on the ground, they generally try to draw it as close to that as they can.

Yes. The rules for throwing the jack are the same as the rules for throwing a boule. You may lean forward on a toe, lifting a heel, when you throw. You may NOT, however, lift your foot completely off of the ground. And you may not have your heel above the circle - your entire foot must be entirely inside the circle.

Once the jack has been successfully thrown, the circle may not be moved. Note, however, that you may move the circle to the maximum legal distance (10 meters) before throwing the jack if you need more room in order to be able to throw it.

Yes. If the jack bounces back and comes to rest within 3 meters of the circle, the jack is considered dead.

The metal balls (boules) are almost always engraved with grooves. The grooves come in a variety of numbers (single, double triple groove), spacings (wide, narrow), and arrangements, so each player can identify his/her own set. Players also often put different colors of paint or permanent marker in the grooves, to help distinguish the sets. Sets of high-end "competition" boules are required to have unique ID numbers engraved on them. For smooth boules (no grooves), you can identify sets by their color (gold, sliver, brushed silver, grey, black, etc.) and by how shiny or rusty they are.

According to the international rules, for doubles and triples, each team plays with six boules. In singles, each player traditionally plays with three.

You must throw the jack to a distance of between 6 and 10 meters. The pre-2016 rules gave a team 3 attempts to throw a valid jack, before the team had to turn the jack over to the opposing team, which then also had 3 attempts. Under the new rules, the team has one attempt to throw a valid jack. If they throw it too short or too long, then the jack is given to the opposing team, which places it on the ground by hand (at a valid distance, of course).

You can build a terrain of any size that you think you will enjoy; the terrain doesn't have to be "legal" before it can be fun. To be able to throw the jack to the maximum legal distance (10 meters), you will need a length of at least 12 meters. Since you are not allowed to throw the jack closer than a half-meter from the sideboard, a width of 3 meters (10') will give you a "landing strip" for the jack that is 2 meters (6' 8") wide. For a home court, therefore, we recommend at least 3 meters (10') wide and 12 meters (40′) long.

Nothing. The jack cannot be thrown to a distance of more than 10 m, but once the jack is on the terrain it is perfectly legal to hit or push the jack to a distance of more than 10 m.

Under international rules, you may rake the court between games, but you may not make any change to the terrain -- including raking it -- between rounds of the same game.

Yes, most groups use that rule when playing on courts that have wooden sideboards but no boundary strings. Note that in this respect, petanque is different from bocce. In bocce, playing balls off of the sideboards is a standard part of the game.

Yes. It is legal to play on ANY kind of surface. Most petanque players consider artificial grass to be less desirable than hard-packed earth, though, because it is too uniform and too "fast" to provide an interesting game. An important feature of any artificial surface is what's beneath it. The subsurface is important because it can make the playing area too hard, too bouncy, or just right.

Petanque can be played anywhere, on any surface, but the traditional place is on a patch of open, flat, level, hard-packed ground. You can find such places in public parks (including dirt paths in the parks) and the infields of baseball diamonds. Sometimes parking lots make great places to play. Playing on grass isn't forbidden, but grass usually has too many random bumps.

The Federation of Petanque, USA, states that petanque may be played on any ground and does not need a defined court. If courts are defined, they must be a minimum of 3 meters by 12 meters for official competitions. National or International official events require a court size of at least 4 meters by 15 meters.

In an international sense, there is no typical food for a pétanque game. The beverage traditionally associated with pétanque is Pernod. However, you're probably more likely to see beer or wine.

In petanque it is perfectly legal and normal for the jack to be moved by a boule. When that happens, you leave the jack in its new location and you simply carry on with the game.

The jack moves, and that's all that really happens. In petanque, it is perfectly legal for a boule to move the jack. Usually it happens by accident, but in some cases a player might actually throw a boule directly at the jack and attempt to hit and move it.

The jack is considered dead. At that point, if only one team has unplayed boules, they score as many points as they have unplayed boules. If both teams still have unplayed boules, or neither team still has unplayed boules, then neither team scores any points. To start the next mene/end/round, the circle is placed n the home terrain as close as possible to the place where the jack was sitting before it was hit... if that location was marked. If that location was not marked, the circle is placed on the home terrain, as close as possible to the place where the jack went out-of-bounds. To start the next mene/end/round, the team that last scored a point throws the jack and the first boule.

In petanque it is perfectly legal to hit and move the jack. This often happens by accident, but in some situations you may actually want to try to hit and move the jack.

In petanque, it is perfectly legal for a boule to move the jack. Usually it happens by accident, but in some cases a player might actually throw a boule directly at the jack and attempt to hit and move it.

There is no particular way you have to throw a petanque boule. Almost every player throws the boule underhanded, with the palm up, simply because this is the most effective way to throw. However, you can throw a boule overhand like a baseball. Note, however, that if an umpire judges that you're not in control of the boule when you do that, or that you're not throwing in a prudent and safe manner, he will penalize you.

No. The only exception is if something like a leaf or a piece of paper is dropped or blown onto the terrain, so that it hides the jack. In that case, the offending object should be picked up and removed, so you can see the jack and carry on with the game.

Simply moving the jack 10 or 20 feet normally doesn't change anything -- the jack is still alive and the game continues. However, the jack dies if it is hit and knocked more than 20 meters (66 feet) from the circle.

It is traditionally played on a rough terrain, but for recreational purposes grass should be fine.

This depends on how evenly-matched the teams are. Most games take 45-60 minutes, but in extreme cases may take as little as 20 minutes or as much as 90 minutes or more.

The official FIPJP rules assume that there are boundary strings around the terrain, and so they don't cover this situation. Most groups use a local rule that says that a boule or jack is dead if it hits a sideboard or an endboard.

Yes there is. The Pakistan Pétanque and Sports Boules Association, in Karachi, has been an FIPJP member since 2006.