Here’s a smattering of reports from the field.

By Alec Stone Sweet

• December 19, 2008

  Big-Time Pétanque

  

  For decades, French players have sought to model themselves on the physique of that icon of Pétanque – the OBUT Man. OBUT Man’s torso is round, rather like a boule. According to myth, this shape gives players better balance when they point and shoot. It also provides a pleasing aesthetic alliteration: the boule, the round, the OBUT Man – me!

• February 17, 2007

  Championship Pétanque in France

  

  THE FRENCH INVENTED PÉTANQUE and they dominate the sport at the international level. The major French tournaments — the Mondial la Marseillaise à Pétanque, the Mondial de Millau, and the French National Championships — are far more difficult to win than is the International Federation’s World Championship, because the density of world class players in [...]

• February 12, 2007

  Le Mondial de Millau: The World’s Greatest Elite Pétanque Tournament

  

  LE MONDIAL DE MILLAU takes place annually, in the mid-August heat of the Aveyron, in France. It is the single most important gathering of the world’s top Pétanque players. In the World Championships, there are no more than a dozen national teams that could consistently defeat the best 250 teams at Millau. Unlike the Marseillaise, [...]

• January 11, 2007

  Introduction to Pétanque

  

  The History
  PÉTANQUE DESCENDS FROM one of the oldest games in human history, the archetype of which involves throwing or rolling an object as close as possible to a marker. Pétanque belongs to a family of ball games that developed in the Mediterranean, today called boules in French and bacci in Italian. In 1907 or 1910 [...]

• January 5, 2007

  Letter from Madagascar

  

  I AM WRITING this letter from the Isle aux Nattes, a tiny island a few hundred meters across the lagoon from the Isle Sainte Marie, which is off the Eastern Coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The two islands are surrounded by a coral reef against which the waves break with a constant roar. [...]

• December 5, 2005

  2005 World Championships of Pétanque

  

  THE 41st WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS of Petanque took place in Brussels, Belgium, September 21-25, 2005. France 1, coached by Philippe Quintais, claimed the title, although it lost twice in the first round (against Belgium 2 and the Ivory Coast). Philippe Suchaud won his sixth title, Henri Lacroix his fourth, and the youngsters, Julien Lamour and Simon [...]

• October 19, 2005

  Le Mondial la Marseillaise à Pétanque

  

  EACH JULY, MARSEILLE hosts the largest and, for many, the most prestigious Pétanque tournament in the world. In 2006, 4,112 teams (12,336 players), registered for the five-day event; the record, set in 2005, is 4,320 triplets. Competition is intense: the tournament proceeds on a single elimination basis, and the stakes are high. A player that [...]