Boule Lyonnaise is a popular French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 form of bowls

Bowls

Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...

, and may be the oldest of the French Boules

Boules

Boules is a collective name for games played with metal balls.Two of the most played boule games are pétanque and boule lyonnaise. The aim of the game is to get large, heavy balls as close to the 'jack' as you can. It is very popular especially in France, but also Italy, where it may often be seen...

 sports.

In Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, the sport Bocce

Bocce

Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...

, or Volo (English: flight), which is played with bronze boules, follows the same set of rules as Lyonnaise.

History

The current version of the game developed during the 18th century around the area of Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

 (as its name suggests).

Then in 1906, the Fédération Lyonnaise et Régionale formed, which led to La Fédération Nationale des Boules in 1933 which then became the Fédération Française de Boules in 1942.

The Grounds and equipment

Under official rules, the ground must measure 27.5 metres (30.1 yd) in length and between 2.5 to 4 m (2.7 to 4.4 yd) in width, with a clear play area of 12.5 metres (13.7 yd) and 7.5 metres (8.2 yd) at each end (one end is the Landing zone, and the other is where the players stand and throw).

When the 'Jack' is thrown, it must land at least 12.5 metres (13.7 yd) away from the player.

The boules vary in size, weight, and composition, usually to accommodate the player's comfort, but tend to be made of bronze (with the jack being wooden) and are usually 90 to 110 mm (3.5 to 4.3 in) in diameter and weigh 900 to 1200 g (2 to 2.6 lb) however, they must be properly centrally balanced. Each player has 4 boules when playing as singles, or three boules per player in doubles play.

Rules

The basic rules are similar to the game of Pétanque

Pétanque

Pétanque is a form of boules where the goal is, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet or jack. It is also sometimes called a bouchon or le petit...

 Marseillaise

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

, in that the aim is to throw your boules as close to the jack as possible, and keep them there.

External links

• BocceVolo.com - World Class Bocce
• Confederation Mondiale des Sports de Boules
• Fédération Internationale de Boules (FIB)
• Bocce in Volo - La community boccistica della specialità volo italiana (Portale e forum sulle bocce italiane e mondiali)
• Bra Bocciofila (Il primo sito italiano dedicato alle bocce)