by JM Van Horn

Created on: March 26, 2008   Last Updated: September 06, 2010

If you are looking for a challenging outdoor game for all ages, then bocce ball is the perfect solution.

Bocce ball follows the same premise of horseshoes where you can score points by tossing your bocce ball closest to the smaller ones at the opposite end of the court. Intrigued? Well here are the basic rules you will need to know to have a better understanding of bocce ball.

- The game is played between two teams made up of a combination of one, two, or four players. Each of the teams will receive a set of bocce balls consists of eight large balls, boccia', and one smaller ball, pallina'. Half of the larger balls will be of a different color or pattern. The size of the team determines the number of balls a player can use. Each team has four balls to divide up among the players.

- First you need to locate an area to play bocce ball. The playing surface should be flat and level with 95' by 15' dimensions; on a natural or manufactured court. The best places to play would be on packed dirt, gravel, or grass.

- A coin toss is used to determine which team starts and each team chooses the color of their boccia balls. The game starts when a player stands at the foul line and throws the pallina towards the opposite end of the court.

- The player will now throw the boccia ball while trying to get it close to the pallina ball, without touching it. Each team will take turns, throwing their boccia balls until one of the balls stops closer to the pallina than the starting boccia ball. Opposing players are allowed to roll their ball into their opponent to knock it away from the pallina.

- If the second team gets a ball closer to the pallina than the starting team without using all of their bocce balls players from the starting team then take their second turn. You will need to continue alternating team turns until all eight bocce balls have been thrown.

- The team with the ball closest to the pallina gets one point for each of its balls that are nearer to the pallina than the opposing team's best ball. . If the balls are equal in distance from the pallina, no points are awarded. Each team can score up to four points per frame.

- If a team scores first in a frame, they start the next frame by throwing out the pallina. The game is over when the first team reaches the predetermined point total. Most bocce ball games end when one team reaches either twelve or sixteen points.

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