Pétanque is the boules game you see in every village square in France. It was born in La Ciotat, on the Mediterranean coast, in 1907. The story goes that a player called Jules Lenoir could no longer take a run-up before throwing, so the game was played standing still, feet together in a circle: pieds tanqués, which gave the game its name.
A small wooden ball, the jack (cochonnet), is thrown first. Then each side throws its metal boules, trying to finish closer to the jack than the opponent. After each round, a team scores one point for every boule nearer to the jack than the other team's best one. The first team to 13 points wins.
There are two ways to throw: pointing, rolling or lobbing your boule gently to stop close to the jack, and shooting, throwing it hard to knock your opponent's boule out of the way.
Get close, or blast theirs away. Pick your moment to point or to shoot, and read where the opponent's boules are sitting before each throw.
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