Anyone for Petanque?

The city edge activity zone has a Petanque Garden for those wanting to indulge in a game of French boules.

Petanque is a game that can be played by people of all ages and athletic ability.

It’s one of Europe's most popular outdoor games and fast gaining a following in New Zealand too – there are now over 50 formal Boules/Petanque clubs around the country.

Pronounced "pay-tonk", it’s a distant cousin of the game of ‘horseshoes’ and a close relative of bocce. The aim is to toss, or roll, a number of steel balls as close as possible to a small wooden aim ball, called a ‘but’ or ‘cochonnet’ (which means ‘piglet’ in French).

Players divide into two teams composed of up to three players.  After deciding who goes first (the traditional coin toss decides this usually), a player throws the cochonnet from a starting circle.

The rest of the game involves throwing your boules closer to the cochonnet than the other team. After all boules have been thrown, the team with the closest boule receives a point for each boule that is closer to the cochonnet than their opponents.

The first team to earn 13 points wins the game.

The rules of Petanque / Boules aren’t complicated. The challenge comes in trying to master your throwing skills and learning the strategy of the game.

So why not bring the family down and have a go?

Click for more information about playing Petanque.

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