History
Several types of lawn bowling are popular in various regions of France. One of them, known as jeu provencale ("game of Provence"), allows a bowler to take two steps before rolling the ball.
Jules LeNoir, a popular bowler in the little Provencal village of La Ciotat, suffered an accident in 1910 that confined him to a wheelchair. To allow him to play, his friends came up with a new rule that the bowler had to keep both feet in a circle about 2 feet in diameter and could not take a step before delivering the ball.
The new game was called pieds tanques, or "feet together." As it spread, that became corrupted to petanque.
Petanque became popular very rapidly, and French emigrants brought it to other countries, including the United States and Canada. According to the governing body, the International Federation of Pétanque and Jeu Provencal (FIPJP), it has more players than any other sport in the lawn bowling group.
The Federation of Petanque U. S. A., headquartered in San Rafael, California, is the national governing body. California has by far the most local clubs, but there are also pockets of petanque enthusiasts in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and around Washington, DC.
How It's Played
The playing area for petanque is considerably smaller than in other types of lawn bowling. Generally, the exact size isn't specified, but in some tournaments an "alley" 4 meters (about 12 feet) wide and 15 meters (about 45 1/2 feet) is used.
Teams are usually made up of two or three players. Each team has six balls. A coin toss determines which team goes first and a player from that team selects a starting point by marking a circle about 1 1/2 feet in diameter. That player then throws the target ball, known as the cochonnet or jack, at least 6 meters (about 18 feet) and no more than 10 meters (about 30 feet) in any direction.
A member of the starting team (usually but not necessarily the player who threw the jack) now bowls, attempting to get as close as possible to the jack.
Play next passes to the other team. Its turn continues either until a ball has been placed closer to the target than the opposition's ball or all the team's balls have been bowled.
Teams continue alternating turns until no balls remain. As in all variations of lawn bowling, only one team can score in a round--the team that has one of its balls closest to the target. That team gets a point for each ball that is closer to the target than any of the opposition's balls. Thus, there is a maximum of 6 points per round.
A player can score by knocking an opponent's ball out of scoring position, or by moving the target with a shot, thereby placing it closer to his own team's balls.
If the target is knocked out of the playing area, the round has to be re-started. However, if it's knocked out by a team's last ball, the other team gets one point for each of its remaining ball.
The team that first reaches a specified number of points is the winner. In most play, 13 points constitutes game, but any other number can be agreed on beforehand.
