The aim of the game of Pétanque is simple, quoting partly from the BPA Coaching Course. If playing football is kicking a ball into the opposite goal and keeping it out of your own, playing pétanque is placing your boule nearer to the cochonet (coche) and keeping your opponents boule away. In fact the first aim of the game ought to be PLACING YOUR BOULE where you want them, rather than knocking objects out of the way. The game is played between two teams, it can be two players, one against one (French "Tête-a-Tête" ) with three boule each, or four players, two against two ( "Doubletts" ) again with three boule each, or six players, three against three ( "Triplette" ) playing with two boule each. The team winning the toss starts by drawing a circle about 35 to 50 centimetres (14 to 19.5 inches) across, standing inside it and throwing the coche (pronounced cosh) forward, not less than 6 metres or more than 10 metres away. The team that throws the coche also throws the first boule. The opposing team throws the second boule. From then on, the team furthest away from the coche after each throw, throws the next boule. This continues until one team has thrown all its boule. After this, the other team throws all its remaining boule. Getting near to the coche can be achieved in various ways: a) A boule can be thrown to it. b) The coche can be moved closer to one of your own boule. c) The opponent's boule nearest the coche can be moved further away by playing your own on to it. A team claims as many points as they have boule nearer the coche than the opposing team. When both teams boule have been thrown and the points assessed, this constitutes an end (French "Mène" ).The team winning the end gets to start the next end. The team first to 13 points wins the game. Courtesy petanque.org
