Bocce Ball: History and Rules

I sometimes like to relax by watching white clad figures play bocce ball at a local Pasadena Park. The park has several bocce ball courts and they are usually occupied. Most of the players are Italian-Americans and it was Italian immigrants who brought bocce ball to America.

Bocce ball has a very ancient origin. An Egyptian painting dating to 5200 BCE shows a painting showing two boys tossing a ball or polished stone. There is an unbroken historical lineage where the common objective is that of trying to get a ball or stone as close as possible to a fixed target. From Egypt the game migrated to Greece around 800 BCE. The Romans learned the game from the Greeks. They spread bocce ball throughout their empire. They used the word bocce with derives from the Vulgate Latin "bottia", meaning boss.

Bocce ball became very popular in Europe and was played by nobleman and peasant alike. It became so popular that it was claimed to interfere with national security because soldiers played the game to the neglect of archery practice. Kings Carlos IV and V prohibited the game.

In 1576, the Republic of Venice outlawed boche ball, punishing players with fines and prison. The Catholic Church then condemned it by proclaiming it a form of gambling. In England the game thrived and became the game of bowls.

The rules of bocce ball are simple and are as follows:

The court is usually 76 feet long and 10 feet wide. There are teams of one, two, or four players. Each player gets four balls. The first player stands behind the foul line and throws the small ball, "pallina," toward the other end of the court. Then the player throws one of the larger balls, "boccia," trying to get as close to the pallina as possible without touching it.

Then players from the other team take turns throwing their balls until one stops closer to the pollina than the starting player's ball. If they fail, the starting team tries to come closer than its first attempt. The starting team takes their second turn if the opposing team gets closer to the pallina without using all their balls.

The game continues in this way until all eight balls have been thrown. This is called a frame. The team with the closest ball gets one point for each ball that is closer to the pallina than the other team's closest ball. The teams play as many frames as needed until one team has 16 points. Players may use their ball to knock the other team's ball away from the pallina or to knock the pallina closer to their own team's balls.

The rules are simple but players can vary greatly in skill and highly skilled players know how to apply English to get their ball to stop on a dime.