Boules

Boules (/buːl/, French pronunciation: [bul]), or jeu de boules,[1] is a collective name for a wide range of games similar to bowls and bocce in which the objective is to throw or roll heavy balls as closely as possible to a small target ball, called the jack.

Dedicated playing areas for boules-type games are typically large, level, rectangular courts made of flattened earth, gravel, or crushed stone, enclosed in wooden rails or back boards.

A Roman sepulchre (now in the Campana Collection in the Louvre) shows children playing this game, stooping down to measure the points.

In the Middle Ages, Erasmus referred to the game as globurum in Latin, but it became commonly known as boules (i.e. 'balls'), and it was played throughout Europe.

The French artist Meissonnier made two paintings showing people playing the game, and Honoré de Balzac described a match in La Comédie Humaine.

In 1910, an offshoot of jeu provençal called pétanque was developed in the town of La Ciotat, in Provence.

Boules games may be sub-divided into two categories based on typical throwing technique: Boules games may also be subdivided into two other categories based on typical throwing technique: Alternatively, boules games may be subdivided into categories based on the structure and material of the ball: Alternatively, boules games may be subdivided into categories based on the shape of the ball: There may be other variations as well, for instance in the way the ball is launched, in the dimensions of the playing area, whether obstacles (such as trees) are considered in-bounds or out-of-bounds, and whether it is legal to play balls off of enclosing boards or obstacles.

By the 1920s, the growing popularity of boules in France created a demand that could not be satisfied using the available supplies of natural boxwood root, which were beginning to disappear.

A year later, in 1924, they filed a patent for a ball that was cast in a single piece -- La Boule intégrale.