Pétanque Rules — How to Play and Keep Score
Pétanque is played on any patch of rough ground with steel boules and a small wooden jack. Each side takes turns to throw, either rolling gently to sit close to the jack or firing hard to knock an opponent's boule away. Only one side scores in an end, and the game usually turns on a single well-judged final throw.
Overview
Pétanque is played on any patch of rough ground with steel boules and a small wooden jack. Each side takes turns to throw, either rolling gently to sit close to the jack or firing hard to knock an opponent's boule away. Only one side scores in an end, and the game usually turns on a single well-judged final throw.
Setup
Two sides, of one, two or three players each. In singles and doubles every player has three boules; in triples each has two, so both sides always come to six boules — except in singles, where each side has three. Draw a circle on the ground 35 to 50 centimetres across.
How to play
A player from the starting side stands with both feet inside the circle and throws the jack between six and ten metres away, then throws the first boule. The other side now throws. From then on, the side not holding the point — that is, the side whose best boule is further from the jack — keeps throwing until it takes the lead or runs out of boules. When every boule has been thrown the end is measured and scored, and the side that scored throws the jack for the next end from a circle drawn where the last jack lay.
Scoring
Find the boule closest to the jack. Its side is the only side that can score. That side then gets 1 point for every one of its boules that is closer to the jack than the best boule of the opponents.
With six boules a side, an end is therefore worth between 1 and 6 points; in singles the maximum is 3. Both sides never score in the same end.
Two edge cases need a rule:
- Equal distance. If the two closest opposing boules are exactly the same distance from the jack, neither has the point. If both sides still hold boules, they carry on throwing alternately until one is nearer. If only one side has boules left, it throws them and scores one for each that finishes closer. If neither has boules left, the end is void and nobody scores — record 0 for both sides.
- Jack knocked out of play. The end is normally dead and scoreless. If one side still has boules and the other does not, that side scores 1 point per boule it had left to throw.
Enter the winning side's figure and a zero for the other. Running totals only move upward.
Ending the game
The first side to reach 13 wins the moment the end is complete — there is no need to hit the number exactly, and no requirement to lead by two. A side beaten 13-0 has "made fanny", the traditional shutout worth recording. In a best-of-three match, play a fresh game to 13 and take two out of three.
Common variations
Games to 11 shorten the session. Jeu Provençal is the older long-throw form. A mêlée reshuffles the teams between games and keeps individual running totals.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | First to target |
|---|---|
| Played to | 13 points by default |
| Score sheet | Counting up to or down from a limit |
| Typical round score | 0 – 6 |
| Negative scores | Never — scores only go up |
| Worth knowing | Exactly one side scores in each end, so one row holds a number between 1 and 6 for one team and a zero for the other. A void end is entered as zero for both. |
Pétanque — score sheet
House rules and settings
Every table plays Pétanque a little differently. These are the 6 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 Pétanque?
The first side to reach this total wins immediately. Thirteen is the competition length; eleven is common for a quicker game.
Default: 13. Adjustable from 7 to 21 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Play to”.
Format: what are the options in Pétanque?
How many players are on each side. This decides how many boules each person throws and therefore the most an end can be worth.
Default: Doubles — two against two. Three options:
In the app: “Format”.
Boules each: what is the default in Pétanque?
How many boules every player throws in an end. Singles and doubles use three each, triples use two, so a side always has six boules except in singles.
Default: 3. Adjustable from 1 to 6 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Boules each”.
Match length: what are the options in Pétanque?
Whether the winner is decided by a single game or by taking the majority of several.
Default: One game. Three options:
In the app: “Match length”.
Must win by two: on or off in Pétanque?
A house rule that keeps playing ends until one side is two clear. Not used in official play, where reaching thirteen ends the game at once.
Default: off.
In the app: “Must win by two”.
Flag a fanny: on or off in Pétanque?
Mark it when a side loses without scoring a single point. Tradition says the losers buy the drinks.
Default: on.
In the app: “Flag a fanny”.
Variants of Pétanque
Short game
Played to eleven rather than thirteen. Standard in tournaments running to a clock and in casual holiday play.
Jeu Provençal
The older long form. The circle is larger, players take a run-up before throwing, and the jack is placed further away.
Mêlée
Teams are drawn at random before each game and individual players carry their results forward across the session.
Pétanque is also known as
Boules, Pétanque Provençale, French Boules. 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.
Coming to the App Store.