Boys and their Balls - Part 20

 Bocce, Boules, Bowls

Today we look at a set of related games where the object is to throw or roll balls as close as possible to a small target ball.  In Italy the game is called bocce.  This statue of a bocce player by Nicolaus Friedrich is in Cologne, Germany.  

A bocce player statue by August Kraus, 1904.  The game is very old and was played by ancient Roman soldiers during the Punic Wars in the third century B.C.

A bocce player statue with weirdly distorted limbs by Michael Schwarze, 1979, in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

"Jeu de boules" by Matisse, 1908.  The French version of the game is called boules or petanque.

In petanque, the balls are thrown, not rolled, and the player must stand with both feet inside a circle while throwing.

After both sides have thrown their balls, the side that got the ball closest to the target ball gets one point for each ball that's closer to the target than the other side's closest ball.  This can involve measuring, above.

The game is popular in naturist resorts throughout Europe.  This is a resort in France.

This one is in the Netherlands.

This one is in Croatia.

And this one is in Spain.

The British version of the game is called lawn bowls or just bowls.  Naturally, being British, someone made a bowls naked calendar.

We end with some Australian guys streaking a game of lawn bowls.