Utilizing the Ricochet

Sometimes the most direct path is not available to you. Examining the boule layout, you can use the boules on the court to redirect your own boule to the cochonnet.

Not depicted, but a gutsy use of the ricochet is the one-two move. You basically roll in a boule (one) to use as the boule from which you ricochet your second boule (two). I haven't used this set-up, but in situations where the only other option is to maybe "go for the cochonnet" it might be easier.

Doublettes today, with switched partners for the 2nd game. I was partnered with Sharon H. in the first game, and we did very well, Sharon pointing in and anchoring the first boule leaving Jeff C. and Raphael to try to push-point it away. Whatever was laid in I shot, leaving us in a very strong position.

The 2nd game didn't fare as well for me, though I did manage a couple of nice shots, we just couldn't shoot every good boule laid in by Sharon and Raphael.

See you Monday.

Playing Injured results in 9/13 Loss

Limping over to the field of play with my cart 'o boules (calf sprain - probably substantially healed by Monday) I joined up with Tim W. and Eric C. pitted against the tremendlously skilled Pat/TimC./Rob marauders. We started off slow, merely at 1 or 2 points to our oppositions building score. We sat at 9 to the bad-guy's 12 points when Pat and Tim C. had to leave for important meetings, leaving Eric to switch over to Rob's team which was a good thing too because of the eventual 13/9 victory.

Hawaii Makes a Visit to Detroit

NOTE (to Pat): Commissioner Downs reports that the "team making" process was both legitimate and advised as per section 123.b of the Articles of Boule.

Today's games were joined by Hawaiian native, Tony Thomas who is visiting family for four weeks. I'll be teaming up with Tony for the duration of his stay and hopefully go up against teams like: Pat/Mark/Tim etc.

Petanque Demonstration on July 25th in Linden, MI

The Parks and Recreation folks in Genesee County want to introduce petanque into their scheduling. I offered to give a demonstration of the sport to the park administration and any people/families that might show up on Saturday (July 25th) between 12 and 6pm. I would love 1 or 2 people, if they have some free time, to help me on this day. Let me know if you're available.

Schedule information HERE.

The park is located at: 15349 S. Linden Road, Linden, Michigan

Park Close-Up: MAP The Petanque demonstraton will be held at Ball Field-1

Beware of Exploding Cheaply Made Petanque boules!

The Swiss federal government has issued a recall and warning about balls manufactured by Dutch company Nebus BV that have been distributed by Coop Supercard (part of a 2003 offer) and TCS (Touring Club Suisse), which has sent them to new members. The balls can explode when touched.

Coop and the automobile association TCS are warning people to watch out for, no joke, exploding petanque balls given to clients as gifts.

Coop customers with a loyalty card have picked up more than 1,100 of the Nebus BV sets while nearly 1,400 have been given out to new TCS members.

A manufacturing defect can lead the balls, which are filled with sand, to start to corrode from the inside with the subsequent pressure causing them to explode. So far, only one of the balls has exploded (in a cupboard) but Coop says they could seriously injure or even kill someone.

Do not touch them or take them out of your cupboard or attempt to return them to Coop or TCS. Call the hotline +41 32 321 7111 for information on how to have them picked up at your home.

The balls come in a black holder and are labeled “JEU DE BOULES” and “PÉTANQUE”. Also on the holder is this information: E.H., P.O. Box 4059, 5004 JB Tilburg (NL).

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DPC NOTE: I suggest you purchase your leisure and competition boules from reputable sellers. "sand-filled" boules are cheap knock-offs which should never be used (explosive or not!). Petanque-America sells only the highest quality boules and I suggest you contact them for safe and high-quality equipment.

Double Bun Burner Today 13/12 & 13/12

We had two great games going on today. My own, me and Jeff C. against the two Tims was going well for us. We built up a great lead 9 to zip! But then the two Tims had enough and held us to that 9 points as they ascended to 12 points. Then, in the final round, we held 1 point (with my three boules in hand) while the two Tims fired away at our position. But I mentioned secretly to Jeff C. that if they didn't plunk down a 2nd defensive boule all I had to do was shoot their sole boule away and it'd be "pointing fish in a barrel" - which happened. 4 points brought us to 13.

Similarly, in Pat/Ted vs. Hal/Eric; Hal's team was sitting on 12 (they had an 8 point lead at one time) - but Pat was able to 4-boule 'em for the 13/12 win for his team.

Have a great weekend, see you Monday.

Being "Greedy" or Playing it Safe

Many times there are situations where a team is sitting on a bunch of points and the captain must weigh in whether or not a boule should be played for further points; or should be simply dropped to avoid the risk of losing everything. These examples are exaggerated (perhaps) but offer up some possible scenarios where the pros and cons should be taken into consideration before a boule is played. Of course the score (and how close one team or the other is to 13) as well as the types of players left with boules to play should all be accounted for in the decision.

Example-1 may offer a third point for the team, but if that cochonnet is pushed by an aggressive pointing, it may kick back to a nest of the opponent's boules. Example-2 looks ripe for a shooting to regain the point, but if your own boule is shot (by mistake of course) then your opposition stands to win tons of points. If you have an expert shooter you may want to take this chance, or... I'd suggest pointing up against the opposition, pushing that boule away but not so hard that your played boule won't still cut the enemy boules if it hits your own 2nd closest boule. Example-3 occurs all of the time: That pesky front boule from the opposition sitting there waiting to be pushed closest. If you already have a number of points, why risk losing them all by pushing the opposition closest? Your opponents may call you "chicken" but I feel points in hand are better than points for them!

New Player, Zack, joins us from San Francisco

Today's games had quite a few onlookers, as well as a few new people trying the sport out. We had Zack join us. He's originally from out West and resided on the Detroit Princess for a bit (that's out floating casino tour boat). We also saw some old familiar faces: Plombe Will (who has started work at a new job and has a new home to boot).

Maury may be playing a game or two out in California this week (he's flying out there today) - so I hope he shows them how well we're playing in Detroit.

MPC Experiencing Strong Turn-Outs

MPC is always open for weekend petanque business!

Aside from players from as far away as Canada, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Mt. Clemens, and Rochester...


You'll find a growing group of MPC Fan Club members as spectators!

Everyone who can or would like to throw a few boules with us are especially welcome to join us this Sunday afternoon in Royal Oak at the VFW Park, just south of 11 Mile on Campbell. Me and a few hard-core players are starting a little early (12:30) since the weather is going to be fantastic! Hope to see you then!

Follow the new MPC Twitter feed to get real-time info on game play activities, day-to-day, hour-by-hour, even with updates to your cell phone!

Boules Boules Boules !

Maury, Ted and I started off well, slapping away the boules with ease, but things turned badly rather soon afterward with our opposition, Eric and the 2 Tims pointing and shooting everything in sight. It was a good combination too, Eric would lay in the close first boule, our team would have a tough time beating it, and if we did Tim would step in to smack our boule away. We started on a comeback towards the end, with a 12-1 score... working it down to 7/12... but in the end, vanquished!

Two Splats for Pat

Who said petanque wasn't dangerous?! While measuring close boules (with calipers!) Pat A. was assaulted from the sky. We didn't see his avian attacker but it is rumored to be Mikey D. using his superpowers of flight and leakage.

Have A Great July 4th

Video-1 Close Boule after Boule

Video-2 Petanque Afternoons

Video-3 Musical Boules

We had a series of fun games this afternoon. I was watching the final game between Pat/TimC./EricC. and Maury/Mark. It was boule-for-boule in the tied 12/12 round with the next point going to the winner. Part of that is on video (above).
My firm is closed Friday, so no petanque at Cadillac until Monday!

Have a great July 4th weekend!

Everything Back to Normal

Cadillac Square Pétanque Rained Out

With no cancellation emails to the contrary, I figured that our noon pétanque session was still on, so I made the ten-minute trek from the RenCen to Cadillac Square. Although the skies were threatening, the rain held off until about five minutes into my practicing. The rain was nothing serious, so I continued on with my practice, umbrella in one hand and a boule in the other, expecting Jeff to show up any second with his cart o' boules.After a couple of minutes the rain stopped, and Mark, Ted, and Tim W. showed up to play as well. We hung around until about 12:25, hoping Jeff would show, but unfortunately he didn't. I talked to the guys about the possibility of purchasing their own boules, for situations such as this, or generally for when we arrive before Jeff. That way, we're ready to go and can get as much boule-filled fun in as possible before we have to go back to work.

From Jeff:

Ha Ha Hal, nice jab! Well, I'll try to get a word out when I can. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Player Assessment Makes for a Better Strategy

Tim W. has become quite the accomplished shooter, and with the tried and true "tir au fer" (the shooter avoids using the ground when shooting - allowing more opportunities to shoot - especially with "front-wall" situations) technique of landing his boule directly on top of the opposition's boule. I completely underestimated that move and it cost us that round. A good lesson to revisit: player assessment.

The prospect of having new shooters and improved pointers added to the game experience reminds me to reassess my opposition's skills as well as the abilities of my own team. When I am determining a play - it isn't merely to always get close; but more of my running some variables into a formula to determine what strategy to use...

Variables to keep in mind include:

1) What is the score; and how much in the lead are we (or they). This variable helps me to determine how much of a risk I can (or cannot) take.

2) How many boules does my team have (and who has them!) as well as how many boules my opposition has and who has them. I can then weigh my options (how many shooter/pointer boules I have as opposed to the other team's). As example: If I have all of my boules nested in front of the cochonnet, and the other team has plenty of shooter boules - then I may want to toss my last boule to the back to protect against a disruption of the cochonnet.

3) Am I being offensive or defensive? If the other team only needs 1 or 2 points for the win and I'm down to my last 2 boules, I may simply cut my losses and try to block out any further points from the opposition by laying in a blocking wall. If, on the other hand, I see an opportunity to win by taking out (shooting) a boule, and the risk of a miss would only give the opposition 1 point, then that risk is a good one.

There are, I'm sure, other variables I've left out, but these are the primary ones for me.

Classic Cars and a Classic Sport

One of the nice things about where we play petanque in Detroit is that many times we share the space with other events. Cadillac Square Park is a flat open space adjacent to Campus Martius Park - and all Summer long there are different things going on (Jazz Festival, Auto Shows, various promotions) which use some of the space at the parks. This is never usually a problem as there are ten courts of space and we always have a place to play alongside the festivities.

Today was had some very nicely maintained Mustangs on display. Their owners looked a little apprehensive as we flung our steel boules about with resounding cracks! But we were courteous - having players "block" boules from causing possible damage. It was nice too to have car enthusiasts watching our boule play and asking us questions.

Keep your eye on the Cochonnet

Pat and I played a rather nice game today. Pat laid in very good anchored points at the start of each round - and I shot away whatever became closer. By the round's end, we still had remaining boules with which to point as the other team (Mark / Hal / Jeff C. ) depleted their own boules in the pointing.

My shooting was on today as well - unusually. I missed (Mark was keeping record) only 2 shots of ... 9 (or so) throws.