Home › Start Playing
The beginner's sectionStart playing pétanque
Five short reads that take you from never having thrown a boule to finishing a real game. Everything here is checked against the current FIPJP rules.
Pétanque in four sentences
Two teams take turns throwing hollow steel boules at a small wooden target ball called the jack, trying to finish closer to it than the other team.
Both feet stay inside a circle drawn on the ground, which is where the name comes from: pè tancat, Provençal for feet planted.
At the end of each round only the closest team scores, one point for every boule of theirs beating the opponent’s best.
First team to 13 points wins.
How a game works
One round, start to finish
A round is called a mène, or an end. Every game is just a string of them, and the shape of one is the whole sport.
A team wins the toss, draws a circle, and throws the jack somewhere between 6 and 10 meters away. The same team throws the first boule. From then on the rule is simple: the team that is not closest keeps throwing until it takes the point back or runs out of boules.
When every boule has been thrown, the closest team scores one point for each of its boules that beats the other team’s best. Only one team scores per end. The scoring team draws a new circle where the jack came to rest, throws the jack again, and it starts over. First to 13.
marked terrain, 15 m × 4 m in national and international play
valid zone for the jack
jack
Throwing circle
35 to 50 cm
6 to 10 m
The section
Five pages, in the order they make sense
Read them top to bottom over an afternoon, or take the one you need right now. The first two are enough to play.
Start here
Where the game came from, what you are trying to do, and how a round plays out. Written for someone who has watched a game in a park and wondered what the rules were.
- Origin in Provence
- The objective
- How an end works
- Pointing and shooting
Read before your first game
The FIPJP rules in plain language, plus the unwritten conventions that keep a game pleasant. Silence when someone is in the circle, marking your boules, and who measures.
- Terrain and circle
- Throwing the jack
- Scoring an end
- Fouls and measuring
Choose how you play
Singles, doubles and triples change how many boules you hold and how a team is built. Doubles is where most clubs put new players, and it is the easiest to organize with friends.
- Tête-à-tête
- Doublette
- Triplette
- Mêlée
Keep it open on court
Short answers to the arguments that break out in real games: a dead jack, a boule that moved another boule, equidistant measurements, and what to do when nobody is sure.
- Dead jack
- Equal distances
- Valid circles
- Carreau
Check yourself
Pick 5 to 50 questions on scoring, fouls and the circle, with the reasoning behind every answer. Take it after the rules page and you will find out fast which two rules did not stick.
- Scoring
- Fouls
- The circle
- Measuring
Equipment
What you need to start
Less than people expect. A set of boules, a jack, and flat ground. Most clubs keep loaner sets for first-timers, so play a few games before buying anything.
| Item | Specification | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Boules | Metal, 70.5 to 80 mm across, 650 to 800 g, unmodified after manufacture | Required in sanctioned play |
| Boules per player | Three in singles and doubles, two in triples | All play |
| Jack | Wood or approved synthetic, 30 mm across, 10 to 18 g, never magnetic | Required in sanctioned play |
| Throwing circle | Drawn 35 to 50 cm across, or a rigid ring of 50 cm | All play |
| Surface | Any terrain; gravel, packed dirt or crushed stone plays best | All play |
| Footwear | Closed toe, no requirement beyond that | Most clubs ask for it |
Leisure sets are fine until they are not. A cheap chrome set from a department store plays perfectly well in a park, and plenty of people never need more. The moment you enter a sanctioned tournament, those boules disqualify the team. The full breakdown, from $30 sets to competition steel, sits on the pétanque equipment page.
Not sure which boules suit you?
Five questions on hand size, throwing style and budget return the diameter, weight and hardness that fit, with competition-legal models filtered out separately.
Your first game
Eight steps from coin toss to thirteen points
Follow this with three friends on any flat gravel and you are playing a legitimate game of doubles. Nothing here is simplified for beginners; it is the actual sequence.
- Toss a coin. The winning team chooses the starting spot and throws the jack first.
- Draw the circle. Anywhere from 35 to 50 cm across, big enough for both feet, and more than a meter from any obstacle. A heel scraped through gravel does the job.
- Throw the jack. From inside the circle, 6 to 10 meters out, at least 50 cm from any obstacle and from the end line. You get one attempt, then the other team places it anywhere legal.
- Throw the first boule. Same team, same circle. Both feet flat inside it until the boule lands. The aim is to stop near the jack, not to hit anything.
- The other team throws. They keep throwing until one of their boules is closer than yours. Then it is your turn again.
- Repeat until the boules run out. Whoever is not holding the point throws next. It is that single rule, over and over.
- Measure and score. The closest team scores one point per boule beating the opponent’s best. If two boules look level, measure. If they truly tie, neither counts.
- Start the next end. The scoring team draws a fresh circle around where the jack finished and throws again. Play to 13.
Expect to point, not shoot, for a while. Rolling a boule gently to the jack wins games at every level. Knocking an opponent’s boule out is the loud part of the sport and the slow part to learn. Start with pointing technique and add shooting once your distance control is steady.
Corrections
Five rules new players get wrong
Every one of these comes up in park games almost weekly. None of them are obscure; they are simply guessed at more often than they are looked up.
Commonly believed
Both teams keep alternating throws, one each, all the way through the end.
The rule
Whichever team is not closest to the jack throws next, which means one team can throw four boules in a row.
Commonly believed
Both teams score whatever their closest boules earn them.
The rule
Only one team scores per end. The nearest team takes a point for every boule ahead of the opponent’s best, and the other team takes nothing.
Commonly believed
You can step out of the circle as you release, the way you would in bowls.
The rule
Both feet stay entirely inside the circle, on the ground, until the thrown boule touches down. Lifting a heel early is a foul.
Commonly believed
A knocked jack is dead and the end is replayed.
The rule
The jack can be struck and moved all game; play simply continues from its new position. It only dies if it leaves the permitted area, and even then there are rules for what follows.
Commonly believed
Everyone throws all of their boules before anyone measures.
The rule
Measuring is allowed at any point in the end, and either team may ask. Once a boule is lifted to measure and proves closest, its position stands.
Terms like mène, carreau, donnée and tir come up constantly on court and get left untranslated. The pétanque glossary has every one with pronunciation.
Getting on court
Where to play in North America
Playing with people who already know the game is worth more than any amount of reading. Most clubs run open sessions, lend boules and expect newcomers to turn up unannounced.
United States
Clubs in most large metros, with dense pockets in California, Florida, Texas and the Northeast. Many hold free weekly sessions in public parks.
Canada
Quebec carries most of the activity, with the oldest club in the country in Montréal. Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and British Columbia all have clubs too.
Mexico
Growing quickly, centered on Mexico City, Guadalajara, Mérida and Baja California, with clubs that play year round and welcome beginners.
Turning up is the whole procedure. You do not need equipment, a partner or a membership to visit most clubs for the first time. Say you have never played and someone will hand you a set of boules within a minute. If a club near you is missing from the map, add your club to the directory.
Common questions
What beginners ask first
About fifteen minutes to learn the rules well enough to play, and one game to feel comfortable. Scoring is the only part that trips people up, and it stops being confusing after two or three ends.
A set of boules per player, one jack, a flat patch of gravel or packed dirt, and something to draw a circle with. A tape measure settles close calls. Most clubs lend boules to first-timers, so you can play several games before buying anything.
Thirteen. Pool and qualifying rounds are sometimes played to 11, and time-limited tournament games end when the clock runs out rather than at a fixed score.
Three each in singles and doubles, two each in triples. The FIPJP rules allow no other combination in sanctioned play.
Yes, though the game changes. Grass absorbs a rolling boule, so nearly every throw has to be lobbed onto the jack rather than rolled in. Gravel, packed dirt and crushed stone give the low bounce the sport is built around.
Pétanque uses smaller hollow metal boules, a fixed circle with both feet planted, and any rough ground. Bocce uses larger resin balls, allows a run-up, and is normally played on a prepared court with side walls. The two look alike from across a park and play nothing alike.
On this page
Free starter kit
Rules, a boule sizing chart, court dimensions and the glossary in one printable PDF.
Take it further
Four things worth having open once you have read the basics.
Read two pages, then go throw something
The introduction and the rules are enough to play a proper game this weekend. Everything after that is refinement, and refinement is more fun with a boule in your hand than a page on your screen.