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Pétanque
Pétanque (French: [petɑ̃k] ⓘ, locally in Provence [peˈtãᵑkə]; Occitan: petanca [peˈtaŋkɔ] ⓘ; Catalan: petanca [pəˈtaŋkə, peˈtaŋka]) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports (along with raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, lawn bowls, and crown green bowling). In these sports, players or teams play their boules/balls towards a target ball.
In pétanque, the objective is to score points by positioning one's boules closer to the target ball than those of the opponent after all boules have been thrown. This is achieved by throwing or rolling boules closer to the small target ball, officially called a jack (French: cochonnet), or by hitting the opponents' boules away from the target, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground. The game is normally and best played on hard dirt or gravel. It can be played in public areas in parks or in dedicated facilities called boulodromes.
The current form of the game was codified in 1907 or 1910 in La Ciotat, in Provence, France. The French name pétanque (borrowed into English, with or without the acute accent) comes from petanca in the Provençal dialect of the Occitan language, deriving from the expression pè tancat [ˈpɛ taŋˈkat], meaning 'foot fixed' or 'foot planted' (on the ground).
Boules games have a very long history, dating back through the Middle Ages to ancient Rome, and before that to ancient Greece.
In France in the second half of the 19th century, a form of boules known as jeu provençal or boule lyonnaise was extremely popular. Players rolled their boules or ran three steps in this game before throwing one. Pétanque originally developed as an offshoot or variant of jeu provençal in 1910, in what is now called the Jules Lenoir Boulodrome in the town of La Ciotat near Marseilles.
Jules Lenoir, a former jeu provençal player, suffered from such severe rheumatism that he could no longer run before throwing a boule and could scarcely stand. A good friend named Ernest Pitiot was a local café owner. To accommodate his friend Lenoir, Pitiot developed a variant form of the game in which the length of the pitch or field was reduced by roughly half, and a player, instead of running to throw a boule, stood, stationary, in a circle. They called the game pieds tanqués, "feet planted" (on the ground), a name that eventually evolved into the game's current name, pétanque.
The first pétanque tournament was organized by Ernest Pitiot and his brother Joseph Pitiot, in 1910 in La Ciotat. The game spread quickly and soon became France's most popular form of boules.
Before the mid-1800s, European boules games were played with solid wooden balls, usually made from boxwood root, a very hard wood. The late 1800s saw the introduction of cheap mass-manufactured nails, and wooden boules gradually began to be covered with nails, producing boules cloutées ("nailed boules"). After World War I, round shot manufacturing technology was adapted to allow the manufacture of hollow, all-metal boules.
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Pétanque AI simulator
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Pétanque
Pétanque (French: [petɑ̃k] ⓘ, locally in Provence [peˈtãᵑkə]; Occitan: petanca [peˈtaŋkɔ] ⓘ; Catalan: petanca [pəˈtaŋkə, peˈtaŋka]) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports (along with raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, lawn bowls, and crown green bowling). In these sports, players or teams play their boules/balls towards a target ball.
In pétanque, the objective is to score points by positioning one's boules closer to the target ball than those of the opponent after all boules have been thrown. This is achieved by throwing or rolling boules closer to the small target ball, officially called a jack (French: cochonnet), or by hitting the opponents' boules away from the target, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground. The game is normally and best played on hard dirt or gravel. It can be played in public areas in parks or in dedicated facilities called boulodromes.
The current form of the game was codified in 1907 or 1910 in La Ciotat, in Provence, France. The French name pétanque (borrowed into English, with or without the acute accent) comes from petanca in the Provençal dialect of the Occitan language, deriving from the expression pè tancat [ˈpɛ taŋˈkat], meaning 'foot fixed' or 'foot planted' (on the ground).
Boules games have a very long history, dating back through the Middle Ages to ancient Rome, and before that to ancient Greece.
In France in the second half of the 19th century, a form of boules known as jeu provençal or boule lyonnaise was extremely popular. Players rolled their boules or ran three steps in this game before throwing one. Pétanque originally developed as an offshoot or variant of jeu provençal in 1910, in what is now called the Jules Lenoir Boulodrome in the town of La Ciotat near Marseilles.
Jules Lenoir, a former jeu provençal player, suffered from such severe rheumatism that he could no longer run before throwing a boule and could scarcely stand. A good friend named Ernest Pitiot was a local café owner. To accommodate his friend Lenoir, Pitiot developed a variant form of the game in which the length of the pitch or field was reduced by roughly half, and a player, instead of running to throw a boule, stood, stationary, in a circle. They called the game pieds tanqués, "feet planted" (on the ground), a name that eventually evolved into the game's current name, pétanque.
The first pétanque tournament was organized by Ernest Pitiot and his brother Joseph Pitiot, in 1910 in La Ciotat. The game spread quickly and soon became France's most popular form of boules.
Before the mid-1800s, European boules games were played with solid wooden balls, usually made from boxwood root, a very hard wood. The late 1800s saw the introduction of cheap mass-manufactured nails, and wooden boules gradually began to be covered with nails, producing boules cloutées ("nailed boules"). After World War I, round shot manufacturing technology was adapted to allow the manufacture of hollow, all-metal boules.