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Backyard bocce ball is similar to traditional bocce ball with one main exception. While traditional bocce is played on a clearly defined court and players must keep their balls within the boundaries of the court, backyard bocce has no court or boundaries.
Backyard bocce is played with one small white ball called the pallina and eight colored bocce balls. The game is played by two to eight players divided into two teams. A coin toss determines which team plays first. -
A member of the team who won the coin toss throws the pallina forward. He then tosses a bocce ball, trying to get it to stop as close to the pallina as possible. Play then switches to the other team.
A member from the other team throws his first bocce ball, trying to land his ball close to that pallina than his opponent's ball. If he succeeds, play reverts to the first team. If a player's bocce ball does not land closer to the pallina than the opposing team's ball, his team continues play until it succeeds. This is referred to as bettering the point.
Play continues with each team taking turns until it betters the point. Teammates take turns shooting until the team betters the point or it has tossed all its bocce balls.
A player can try to knock his opponent's ball away from the pallina. Or he can hit the pallina and knock it closer to one of his team's balls. - Once both teams have thrown all its balls, points are counted. A team is given a point for each ball that's closer to the pallina than its opponents' to a maximum of four points per frame. When two balls appear to be the same distance from the pallina, they are measured from the center of the pallina to the closest edge of the bocce ball. The shortest distance is the winner of the point. No points are awarded in case of a tie. The team who wins a frame begins the next. The first team to reach nine points wins the round.
