How to Play Bocce Ball

This ancient game, whose modern adaptation most closely resembles bowling, requires skill, strategy and just a little luck. Bocce ball is a great game to play outside on a beautiful day. It is highly popular among seniors, but youths are sure to enjoy this accuracy game.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Find a flat, level playing surface (packed dirt, gravel or grass are ideal). A regulation bocce court is 76 feet long and 10 feet wide.

2. Divide players into two teams of one, two or four players each. Each team gets four balls, divided equally among the players.

3. Have a player from the starting team stand behind the foul line (which is 10 feet from the throwing end of the court) and throw the small ball, or "pallina," toward the opposite end of the playing surface.

4. Let the player then throw one of the larger balls, or "boccia," trying to get it as close to the pallina as possible without touching it.

5. Have players from the opposing team take turns throwing their balls until one of the balls stops closer to the pallina than the starting player's ball. If they fail to do so, the starting team tries to outdo its first attempt.

6. Let the starting players take their second turn if the opposing team gets closer to the pallina than the starting team without using all of their balls.

7. Continue in this fashion until all eight balls have been thrown. The team with the closest ball gets one point for each of its balls that are closer to the pallina than the other team's closest ball.

8. Keep in mind that if the two teams' closest balls are an equal distance from the pallina, no points are awarded.

9. End the frame after all eight balls have been thrown and appropriate points have been awarded. The scoring team begins the next frame. If no team previously scored, the team that threw the pallina last begins the next frame.

10. Play as many frames as needed until one team has a total score of 16 points.

Tips & Warnings

• Players may use their balls to knock the other team's balls away from the pallina, or to knock the pallina closer to their team's balls.

Who Can Help:

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[thedayofgames]

on 6/27/2009 Try playing on the beach instead. Beach Bocce. No rolling bocce balls, just a toss and thud. You can play at Dogdaze LA.

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LA and SD are up and running, a city near you is around the corner. Email [e-mail] to stay in the loop or get your team signed up.

[dreamn3d]

on 5/5/2007 How do u put a spin in when throwing a ball ?

on 6/11/2007 You can put backspin on the ball, which will keep it from moving forward once thrown, thereby effectively replicating a vertical drop.

on 6/30/2006 If you have a reasonably hard area of sand, beach bocce is a lot of fun. In fact, I like it better than bocce on grass.

on 11/22/2005 Not every lawn is perfect. There are dips and bumps that will throw off your line of roll. Underhand lobs can work to get you where you want to go in bumpy situations, just make sure you throw short of your target (unless you're skilled enough to land a vertical drop), where the ball won't move much from landing.