What Is Pétanque Game?

Petanque is a ball game that has the perfect combination and is fun to play on the beach. This game is almost a national sport of France. Not everyone knows What Is Pétanque Game?: History of (pétanque) and How To Play It.

Petanque can be played recreationally as well as professionally. But petanque is known to bring out the competitive nature of the people who play. Petanque boules can be a very comprehensive game, and it’s also easy to learn. Discover how to play and the rules that apply in Petanque.

What Is Pétanque Game?

Petanque is a French game played outdoors. It is usually played by two teams to try to throw boules. Boules are metal balls of orange-like shape and size. The game is very simple as well as fun to play.

The word Petanque comes from the Provincial language meaning pied horses. It comes from the verb tanker with the meaning of binding or anchoring.

History of Pétanque

Petanque Traditional History

By the early 6th century BC the Ancient Greeks had played coin toss games, flat stones, and stone balls, called spheristics. The Ancient Romans added targets to the game that should be aimed as close as possible. Roman variations were brought to Provence (southern France) by Roman soldiers and sailors.

In a Roman tomb in Florence, Italy, there is a headstone depicting a man playing this game with decorations on his headstone that appears to be a person bowing to measure points.

After that, the Roma people replaced the original target of the stone ball with a wooden ball. In the Middle Ages, Erasmus referred to the game as a globurum, but subsequently, by various circles, it was better known as ‘boule,’ or ball, and the game began to be played throughout Europe.

King Henry III of England forbade the game and replaced it with an archer. He wants his citizens to practice archery more as a defense of the country than to play bole.

In the 14th century, Charles IV and Charles V of France banned all sports for commoners, who could exercise only among nobles. This prohibition was only in the 17th century lifted.

In the 19th century, in England, the sport was called lawn-bowling, while in France, it remained known as a boule that could be played in all walks of life. Two paintings by Meissonnier, a French artist, depicting people playing games. Honoré de Balzac in La Comédie humaine portrays the game in its plays.

The boule is now called a Provencal jeu in the South of France. It’s a type of petanque that requires the player to run three steps before the ball can be thrown. The game is played in villages throughout Provence, on a dirt field under the shade of a tree. The game is told in detail in the memoirs of novelist Marcel Pagnol.

History of Modern Petanque

In its current form, the petanque was discovered by Jules Boule Lenoir, a French Lyonnaise player. The pitch or pitch length is reduced by about half, and the pitch is moved replaced by a stationary one.

In 1910, Joseph Pitiot, owner of La Ciotat’s cafe, organized the first petanque tournament using new rules. With the establishment of the International Federation of Petanque Fédération Internationale de petanque et Jeu (FIPJP) in 1958 in Marseille, the first World Championships were held in 1959.