The Ultimate Guide to Pétanque Rules
What is pétanque?
Pétanque is a friendly sport, often shared during warm moments with family or friends. It’s played with steel boules and a small wooden target ball called the jack (or cochonnet in French).
Accessible to everyone — from beginners to seasoned players — pétanque can be enjoyed both casually and in competition.
The goal? To get your boules closer to the jack than your opponents.
Score 13 points, and you win!
Getting Ready to Play Pétanque
- Singles (1 vs 1):
Each player uses 3 pétanque boules. - Doubles (2 vs 2):
Each player uses 3 pétanque boules. - Triples (3 vs 3):
Each player uses 2 pétanque boules.
The Right Terrain
The official dimensions of a pétanque court are 4 m wide by 15 m long (or 3 m by 12 m in some cases), and the surface can be gravel, sand, clay... But in the end, the ground doesn’t really matter, what matters most is playing and sharing good times.
Pétanque is, above all, a game of joy and togetherness.
In a park, on the village square, by the sea or in your own garden: throw the jack, shoot, point, and enjoy the moment. After all, the best terrain is the one where we play together!
The Right Team
Passionate pétanque players or seasoned competitors, 100% steel boules, and a hardwood jack, everything you need to face your opponents in style!
As long as there's good spirit, you're all set!
How a Game of Pétanque Unfolds
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![Start by drawing lots to decide which player or team goes first.]()
Start by drawing lots to decide which player or team goes first.
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![Is it you? Then you choose the starting point: draw or place a 50 cm diameter circle on the ground.]()
Is it you? Then you choose the starting point: draw or place a 50 cm diameter circle on the ground.
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![Each player must stand inside the circle, and no stepping out until the boule hits the ground!]()
Each player must stand inside the circle, and no stepping out until the boule hits the ground!
How far should you throw the jack?
Heads up! You throw the jack at a distance between 6 and 10 m, and at least 1 m away from any obstacle (wall, tree, etc.).
Shoot or point?
Focus time! You throw your first pétanque boule as close to the jack as possible.
Now it’s your opponent’s turn to step into the circle.
Will they point their boule with precision to get even closer, or shoot yours away with skill and power?
What if the jack gets shot?
During a round, it can happen: a player hits the jack and knocks it out of the playing area.
And when you push things a bit too far… what happens?
- If no boules are left in play, or if both teams still have boules in hand, the round is declared void.
- But if only one team still has boules left, it scores as many points as the number of boules it hasn’t played yet.
In pétanque, everything can change with one well-placed (or unlucky) shot!
Next Up
After each throw, keep a close eye on every millimetre near the jack:
The boule closest to it “has the point” and leads the game!
Then it’s up to the player or team without the point to play. That team continues throwing until it takes back the point. If the player or team runs out of boules, the opposing team plays all the boules they have left. They’re free to try and score as many points as possible…
Once all the boules have been played: the round is over!
Scoring in Pétanque
At the end of each round (mène), it’s time to count the points!
The team with the boule closest to the jack scores.
Then, count all of that team’s boules that are closer than the opponent’s closest boule.
The total gives the number of points won for that round.
For the next mène, a player from the winning team throws the jack from the spot where it was at the end of the previous round.
The game continues, mène after mène, until one team reaches 13 points.
At that point ... game over, and victory secured!
“Faire Fanny” in Pétanque
An old pétanque tradition!
When a team loses 0 to 13, they’ve “done Fanny”.
The punishment? The losers must “kiss Fanny”, usually the (bare) bottom of a statue or image of a woman!
A fun and cheeky ritual that adds to the spirit of the game!
Rules of Provençal Game*
Do you prefer Provençal pétanque, also known as boule provençale?
You use the same boules, but there are 3 key differences from classic pétanque:
- Official court dimensions: at least 4 m wide × 24 m long.
- Distance between circle and jack: between 12 and 20 m depending on the player category.
- Throwing technique: to point, the player must take 1 step out of the circle; to shoot, 3 steps are required.
According to the 2017 FFPJP Provençal game rules, effective from 2018.
