Pétanque vs bocce: how the two games differ
Both send balls toward a small target. Almost everything after that diverges: the balls, the court, the throw, the scoring and what the games cost to set up. Figures here come from the FIPJP and the United States Bocce Federation.
Pétanque is played standing still, both feet inside a small circle, throwing hollow steel balls onto rough open ground. Bocce is played with a walking approach to a foul line, rolling larger solid balls down a built and groomed court with rails.
Pétanque needs no court and rewards years of technique. Bocce needs a court and can be played properly on the first afternoon.
Start here
The rule that separates them
One rule separates the two games more than any equipment difference, and it shapes everything else.
In pétanque both feet stay flat inside the throwing circle until the boule touches the ground. No step, no run-up, no momentum. All the power and accuracy come from a stationary arm swing, which is why technique carries so much weight and why a 70-year-old competes on level terms with a 25-year-old.
In bocce you approach a foul line and release while moving, closer to a bowling delivery. The body contributes to the throw, which makes distance easier to generate and makes the game far quicker to pick up.
The name records it. Pétanque comes from the Occitan pès tancats, meaning feet planted, which became pieds tanqués in French. Bocce is simply the Italian for bowls. What pétanque is covers where the game came from and how it spread.
The name
Why pétanque is called French bocce
Many American players call pétanque French bocce, because both games throw balls at a small target and score the same way. US event listings use the phrase, and Bocce Australia lists pétanque among the three forms of bocce.
Bocce is the older of the two games. Pétanque was invented in La Ciotat, in Provence, in 1907, and the first competition was held there in 1910.
Pétanque, bocce and lawn bowls compared
| Feature | Pétanque | Bocce | Lawn bowls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball | Hollow steel, 70.5 to 80 mm, 650 to 800 g | Solid, 107 mm, 920 g | Biased, shaped to curve |
| Target | Jack, 30 mm | Pallino, 40 mm in international play | Jack, 63 to 67 mm |
| Balls per player in singles | 3 | 4 | 2, 3 or 4 |
| Playing area | Any firm ground, 15 × 4 m in championships | Built court, 26.5 × 4 m under the USBF | Flat green 31 to 40 m long, with a ditch around it |
| Game length | 13 points | Usually 12 points (USBF), 15 in finals | A set number of shots or ends, or a fixed time |
Bias sets lawn bowls apart: each bowl is shaped to travel a curved path, so the line of delivery is never the line to the jack. The figures come from the World Bowls laws of the sport.
Boccia
Pétanque vs boccia
Boccia is a Paralympic sport, not another name for pétanque. Athletes with impairments that affect motor function throw, roll or kick their balls toward a white jack.
Players who cannot release a ball with their hands send it down a ramp with the help of an assistant.
Boccia joined the Paralympic Games in 1984, and World Boccia governs the sport. A set holds six red balls, six blue balls and one white jack.
Each ball weighs 275 g, give or take 12 g, and measures 270 mm around. The court is a flat, smooth floor of 12.5 m x 6 m (41 ft x 19 ft 8 in).
In German, Boccia is the name of bocce itself: the Duden entry calls it an Italian ball game. For that game, the rest of this page applies.
Pétanque and boccia compared
| Feature | Pétanque | Boccia |
|---|---|---|
| Who plays | Open to all players | Athletes with impairments that affect motor function, in Paralympic classes BC1 to BC4 |
| Ball | Hollow steel, 70.5 to 80 mm, 650 to 800 g | 275 g, 270 mm around |
| Balls per player in singles | 3 | 6 |
| Target | Jack, 30 mm | White jack ball |
| Delivery | Thrown with both feet in the circle | Thrown, rolled or kicked; ramp allowed in class BC3 |
| Playing area | Any firm ground, 15 × 4 m in championships | Indoor court, 12.5 × 6 m |
| Governing body | FIPJP | World Boccia |
The figures come from the World Boccia rules and the International Paralympic Committee.
Pétanque rules card
Thirteen rules on one printable page, from the toss to a jack knocked out of bounds.
Head to head
Balls and target
Put a boule and a bocce ball next to each other and the difference is immediate. The bocce ball is about a third heavier and visibly larger.
| Item | Pétanque | Bocce |
|---|---|---|
| Ball material | Hollow steel, required to be hollow under the 2020 rules | Solid resin or composite |
| Ball diameter | 70.5 to 80 mm, most players at 71 to 74 mm | About 107 mm for regulation play |
| Ball weight | 650 to 800 g, the player’s choice | About 920 g, standard for everyone |
| Balls per player | 3 in singles and doubles, 2 in triples | 4 in singles, 2 in doubles, from a set of 8 |
| Whose set | Each player owns boules matched to their hand | One set of 8 shared between the teams |
| Target ball | Jack, 30 mm and 10 to 18 g, wood or approved synthetic | Pallino, 40 mm and about 90 g in international play, often 48 to 63 mm in retail sets |
| Typical outlay | Leisure sets under 95 dollars, competition sets from about 89 dollars | One set covers a whole group |
The jack being only 30 mm is a bigger deal than it sounds. A smaller target makes both placing a boule beside it and shooting it harder, which is part of why pétanque supports specialist shooters. Details on what the rules require are on the equipment page.
The other consequence of boules being personal is that size and weight become a decision rather than a given. Hand size, throwing style and how often you shoot all move the answer, and the boule selector works through it in five questions.
Ground
Court and surface
Pétanque adapts to whatever ground exists. Bocce is built a specific way on purpose, and the difference decides where you can play at all.
| Feature | Pétanque | Bocce |
|---|---|---|
| Court needed | None. Any flat gravel, dirt or crushed stone | A constructed court, and the game suffers without one |
| Marked dimensions | 15 m x 4 m for championships, never below 12 m x 3 m | 26.5 m x 4 m under the USBF, commonly built 91 x 13 feet |
| Smaller sizes | Casual play needs no marked terrain | 60 x 9 feet is the sanctioned minimum, 60 x 10 to 12 feet typical in a backyard |
| Surface | Gravel or decomposed granite, deliberately irregular | Oyster shell flour, clay, synthetic resin or turf, groomed flat |
| Walls | None. A boule crossing the boundary is dead | Side and end rails, playable for bank and rebound shots |
| Irregularity | Part of the game. Reading the ground is a core skill | Designed out. A predictable roll is the goal |
The rails are the structural difference most comparisons miss. Bocce rails let a player bank a ball off the side to reach a position that is otherwise blocked, which is a genuine tactical layer. Pétanque has no walls at all, so a boule that fully crosses the line is dead and removed, and every shot has to work in open space.
The pétanque measurements above are the competition ones, and court dimensions sets out the smaller sizes federations accept for lower rounds and for practice.
An irregular surface is not a defect in pétanque, it is the reason the game stays interesting on the same patch of gravel for years. Picking a landing spot on ground that kicks is a skill of its own, covered on reading the terrain.
That also explains the access difference in North America. A bocce court has to be built and maintained; pétanque can be played on a park path, which is why our public courts directory lists terrain in ordinary municipal parks.
Technique
How you throw
Pétanque has one conventional motion that beginners are taught from the start. Bocce leaves the motion to you.
The pétanque throw
Both feet stay inside a circle of 35 to 50 cm if drawn, or 50 cm if a rigid circle is used, until the boule lands. The boule sits in the palm with the hand turned over so the palm faces the ground, and the fingers roll off it on release to impart backspin.
That backspin is convention rather than a rule, and nothing in the rulebook requires it. It exists because it makes the boule brake on landing instead of running through the target, which is what lets a player commit to a landing spot on rough ground. Arc height is the tactical choice: a low roll, a medium demi-portée or a high plombée dropped almost vertically. Both terms, and the rest of the French that survives in every language the game is played in, are in the glossary.
Pétanque also splits the throw into two jobs. Pointing tries to stop a boule right next to the jack; shooting knocks an opponent boule out, often with a clean hit in the air. Most teams carry a player who prefers each.
The bocce throw
Players start behind the foul line and may walk up to it, releasing in motion. No grip is prescribed and spin is personal preference. Balls are usually rolled along the groomed surface, sometimes lofted in a gentle arc.
On a consistent surface the dominant skill is weight control, putting exactly enough force behind the ball. Hitting an opponent’s ball is allowed and used, though it sits less at the center of the game than shooting does in pétanque.
The pétanque motion is covered properly on the grip and stance page.
Playing
Rules and scoring
The scoring principle is shared. The numbers around it are not.
| Rule | Pétanque | Bocce |
|---|---|---|
| Game target | 13 points, or 11 in leagues and qualifying | Commonly 12, varying with league and federation |
| Scoring per round | Only one team scores, one point per boule beating the opponent’s best | The same principle, one team scoring per frame |
| Target throw | Jack thrown 6 to 10 m from the circle, one attempt only | Pallino thrown past the center line of the court |
| Delivery | Both feet planted inside the circle | Walking approach to a foul line |
| Time limit | One minute per boule under FIPJP rules | No equivalent standard clock |
| Team sizes | 1, 2 or 3 a side | 1, 2 or 4 a side |
Team size changes how many boules each player holds, and with it how a team is put together. Formats sets out singles, doublette and triplette and what each one plays like.
Both games settle close calls with a measure rather than an eye. The full pétanque rules, including what happens when the jack is knocked out of play, sit on the rules page.
Choosing
Which to start with
Neither is better. They suit different situations, and the honest answer depends on what is near you and how you like to learn.
| If this is you | Then |
|---|---|
| You want to play a real game today with no technique to learn | Bocce |
| You want a skill that keeps rewarding practice for years | Pétanque |
| There is no built court anywhere near you | Pétanque, since it needs only flat ground |
| Your local park already has bocce courts | Bocce, since the court is the hard part to find |
| You are buying for a group on a budget | Bocce, one set covers everyone |
| You want your own equipment fitted to your hand | Pétanque, where boules are chosen for diameter and weight |
| You like playing on rough, unpredictable ground | Pétanque, where reading the terrain is part of the sport |
| You want a long, flat, consistent roll | Bocce |
They also coexist easily. Plenty of players do both, and the transferable skill is judging weight and distance.
North America
Where each is played
Bocce is the more established of the two here, and it is not close.
Bocce spread widely through Italian-American communities across the twentieth century, and municipal bocce courts are common in parks throughout the United States and Canada. Pétanque arrived later and grew through clubs rather than parks departments.
The Federation of Pétanque USA has reported roughly 30,000 players nationwide against 2,141 registered members across 52 affiliated clubs in its published membership figure. That gap is the point: most pétanque in North America happens outside any federation record, which is also why finding somewhere to play takes more effort than it should.
The clubs that do organize run open days and regional competitions through the season, and the tournament calendar lists what is coming up across the three countries.
Find somewhere to play
Clubs across the US, Canada and Mexico, plus 61 free public courts with addresses and access type. Most clubs lend boules to first-timers.
Common questions
Questions about the two games
Are pétanque and bocce the same game?
Can I play pétanque with a bocce set?
Which is easier to start?
Next
If pétanque is the one
The rules take about fifteen minutes and the first game can happen the same day.
Pétanque, once a month
Club spotlights, new court listings, equipment notes and events across the US, Canada and Mexico.
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Quick comparison
- Pétanque ball 70.5 to 80 mm, 650 to 800 g
- Bocce ball about 107 mm, about 920 g
- Pétanque target 30 mm jack
- Bocce target 40 mm pallino in international play
- Pétanque delivery feet planted in a circle
- Bocce delivery walking approach to a line
- Pétanque court none required
- Bocce court built, with rails
Pétanque vs cornhole
Price, playing space, team size and accessibility, compared with the figures each governing body publishes.
Boule selector
Five questions on hand size, throwing style and budget return the diameter, weight and hardness that suit you.