# Peddunk?  Bocci Ball?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peddunk-bocci-ball/172552>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 2, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peddunk-bocci-ball/172552 "2003-05-02T03:42:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peddunk-bocci-ball/172552/1 "2003-05-02T03:42:42Z")

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I saw a Cosby Show last night where he was playing some odd-named game (Peddunk?) which looked like the Italian game, bocci ball. The show implied it was French. What is the correct name? Is it French? And, is it the same as Italy’s bocci ball? - Jinx

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**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peddunk-bocci-ball/172552/2 "2003-05-02T03:45:44Z")

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Petanque

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peddunk-bocci-ball/172552/3 "2003-05-02T04:57:28Z")

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I was in southern France last year and frequently saw petanque being played in village squares, etc. An explanation I found said that it closely resembles bocce, but adds the requirement that when throwing a ball the person must stand still. This was said to be in deference to a skilled but aging player who suffered a leg injury – under the revised rule, his career could continue.

The serious version is played with heavy metal (steel, I think) balls and seems to be very popular. The spactular move is to loft a ball in the air so it lands on an opponent’s ball and blasts it into oblivion (well, a long way).

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**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peddunk-bocci-ball/172552/4 "2003-05-02T04:59:09Z")

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It looks like quite the organized game, and very similar to bocci. I’ve seen it referred to most often as ‘boules’, though.

[http://www.petanqueamerica.com/](http://www.petanqueamerica.com/)

> **[petanque.org - Sports News from All Over the World for Petanque Lovers](https://www.petanque.org/)**
>
> Petanque.org is a blog about the world of petanque, also bringing you the latest from world sports – basketball, soccer live scores, NFL, and the Olympics.

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**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peddunk-bocci-ball/172552/5 "2003-05-02T05:00:05Z")

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I think it’s safe to characterize petanque and bocce as French and Italian variants of the same game. According to [this site](http://www.petanqueamerica.com/game.html) (scroll down about halfway), there are some fine distinctions between the two–petanque uses smaller balls, etc.–but the object of the game is pretty much the same in either version.

So, yes, it is French, and Italian, and basically the same game.