Tell Me About Bocce Ball – The Lawn Game of All Lawn Games
We’ve mentioned and suggested Bocce Ball time and again, but what is Bocce Ball exactly? Have you ever played it? Do you know it’s origin? Perhaps you do, but for those who don’t and simply read over that game without knowing what we were talking about, let us enlighten you!
Bocce Ball is part of the boules family, the collective name for a range of games, such as the British game of bowls and the French game of pétanque. The form of Bocce Ball that we know today was developed in Italy.
The Game
There are 8 large balls total, 4 balls per team, and a small target, often a smaller ball, which is called a pallina. The balls are defined by team in a different color or pattern.
A team may have 1, 2, or 4 players each, with the rules changing a bit to accommodate accordingly. One player teams will have 4 balls each, 2 player teams will have 2 balls per player, and a 4-player team will have 1 ball per player. Prior to the game starting, the playing rotation should be decided for multi-player teams.
A coin toss starts the game with the winner of the toss deciding to take the first pallina toss and the color/pattern of the balls to be used. A player from that team will toss the pallina so that it passes the court’s center line and is within the boundaries.
If the first toss isn’t within the proper playing range as described, the opposing team gets the opportunity to toss the ball. If they do not toss the ball within the proper playing range, it reverts to the starting team, and so on.
The player that is chosen to toss the pallina delivers the first ball and the team will roll the ball again if the first ball is outside of the court boundaries. If not, that player should step aside and allow the opposing team to roll their balls, attempting to get one close to the pallina.
The side who get a ball closest to the pallina will have the "in" ball while the other team will have the “out" ball. The team with the "in" ball will then step to the side so that the "out" team can deliver their ball in attempt to gets a ball closer to the pallina without tying with the other teams effort. .
This play continues until all Bocce balls have been thrown by both teams, which is completing a frame and points are tallied. The game then resumes with the winning team starting and both teams at the opposite end of the court with the two teams throwing their balls.