Setup
Two teams. Each takes four balls of one colour, divided between its players: four each in singles, two each in doubles, one each with four a side. A court is roughly 4 metres wide and 27 metres long, but bocce is happily played on any flat lawn with agreed boundaries.
How to play
A player from the starting team rolls the pallino out to a fair distance and then rolls the first ball. After that, the team not holding the closest ball rolls next, and keeps rolling until it takes the lead or runs out of balls. Balls may be rolled gently to sit close, or thrown hard to knock an opponent away or move the pallino. The frame is over when all eight balls have been thrown.
Scoring
Identify the ball nearest the pallino. Its team is the only team that scores. That team then takes 1 point for each of its balls lying closer to the pallino than the opposing team's best ball.
- All four of one team's balls closer than any opponent — 4 points, the maximum.
- Two closer, then an opponent, then the rest — 2 points.
- If the two closest balls, one from each team, are exactly equidistant, neither team can claim the point. Under the standard setting nobody scores, both sides record zero, and the pallino goes back to the team that threw it. Some leagues replay the frame instead.
The losing team always scores zero. Both teams never score in the same frame. With the pallino bonus switched on, add 1 point to the scoring team if one of its balls struck the pallino and it still holds the closest ball, giving a maximum of 5.
The team that scored throws the pallino to start the next frame.
Ending the game
Add each frame to a running total. The first team to reach or pass the agreed target wins as soon as that frame is complete — 12 by default, with 13, 15 and 21 all common. Because a frame can be worth four points, overshooting the target is normal and does not matter unless the win-by-two rule is on, in which case play continues until one side is two clear. Where a fixed number of frames is agreed instead, the higher total after the last frame wins and an extra frame settles a tie.
Common variations
Punto, Raffa, Volo is the formal Italian version and changes the shot rules rather than the arithmetic. Casual games often add a point for hitting the pallino, and lengths from 7 to 21 are all played somewhere.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | First to target |
|---|---|
| Played to | 12 points by default |
| Score sheet | Counting up to or down from a limit |
| Typical round score | 0 – 4 |
| Negative scores | Never — scores only go up |
| Worth knowing | Only one team scores in a frame, so one side takes a number between 1 and 4 and the other takes zero. A frame where the two nearest balls are equidistant is entered as zero for both. |
Bocce — score sheet
Worked example
Settings: Match ends afterA set number of frames, Number of frames9, Play to12, If the two nearest balls tieNobody scores, move on, Must win by twooff. Teams: Blue and Green.
Only one team scores in a frame, so the other cell is a zero. Frame 6 is a genuine tie — the two nearest balls were equidistant, so both cells are zero.
| Frame | Blue | Green |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 | 0 | 2 |
Running totals:
| After | Blue | Green |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | 7 | 0 |
| 3 | 9 | 0 |
| 4 | 12 | 0 |
| 5 | 12 | 4 |
| 6 | 12 | 4 |
| 7 | 12 | 8 |
| 8 | 12 | 12 |
| 9 | 12 | 14 |
Expected standings after frame 9: Green 14, rank 1 — winners; Blue 12, rank 2. the game is over, because the ninth frame completed the agreed set.
House rules and settings
Every table plays Bocce a little differently. These are the 7 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Play to: what is the default in Bocce?
The first team to reach this total wins. Twelve and thirteen are the usual league lengths; 15 or 21 make for a longer match.
Default: 12. Adjustable from 7 to 25 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Play to”.
Balls per team: what is the default in Bocce?
How many balls each side rolls in a frame. Four is standard, shared out among the players — four each in singles, two each in doubles, one each with four a side.
Default: 4. Adjustable from 2 to 8 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Balls per team”.
Match ends after: what are the options in Bocce?
Whether you race to a score or simply play a fixed number of frames and compare totals.
Default: A team reaches the target score. Two options:
In the app: “Match ends after”.
Number of frames: what is the default in Bocce?
Used only when the match is set to end after a fixed number of frames. Highest total at the end wins.
Default: 8. Adjustable from 4 to 30 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Number of frames”.
If the two nearest balls tie: what are the options in Bocce?
What to do when opposing balls are exactly the same distance from the pallino and neither can be judged closer.
Default: Nobody scores, move on. Two options:
In the app: “If the two nearest balls tie”.
Bonus for hitting the pallino: on or off in Bocce?
A house rule granting one extra point to a team whose ball strikes the small target ball and stays closest. Not part of any official code.
Default: off.
In the app: “Bonus for hitting the pallino”.
Must win by two: on or off in Bocce?
Keep playing frames past the target until one team leads by two clear points. Off by default, since reaching the target normally ends the game at once.
Default: off.
In the app: “Must win by two”.
Variants of Bocce
Open rules
Played on grass or gravel with no fixed court, boundaries agreed on the spot, and games usually to 12.
Punto, Raffa, Volo
The competitive Italian discipline with regulated shot types and a marked court. Scoring is unchanged.
Long game
Played to 21, roughly twice the length. Popular where courts are booked by the hour.
Bocce is also known as
Bocce Ball, Italian Lawn Bowling, Bocci. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.