Games of Bowls
Bowls in all but a few forms is a target game where a target ball is thrown first with the objective for each team is to get it’s bowl closest to the target ball. A set number of points is required to win a match. The most popular of these games are Lawn Bowls, Boules, Bocce, and Petanque. Two other games of bowls that have the objective of tossing a ball for distance along a road are Irish Road Bowling and the German games of Klootschiseen and Bosseln.
Lawn Bowls
The game of lawn bowls played on grass dates back to 1299 in Southhampton, England. The game is referenced in no less than three of William Shakespeare’s plays at the time when it was almost exclusively played by nobleman and when punishment was enforced upon commers who were caught playing the game. It was said that Sir Francis Drake insisted on finishing a game of bowls at Plymouth even as the Spanish Armada approach, however, the tide may have had something to due with him being in no rush.
The nature of lawn bowls took a unique turn when a gentleman’s bowl split in two during a match. To continue the game, he went to a lady friend’s home and cut off the head of a banister in hopes of continuing the game. The bowl that had part of a side missing when bowled would now curve in the direction of its bias. Modern lawn bowling balls have a built-in bias (weight) that causes the ball to curve in the direction of the bias. Therefore, it can be made to curve in the direction the bias, either on the forehand side or the backhand side.
Boules and Bocce
Both boules and bocce are similar games played in four forms at the international level. One unique scoring tradition in bocce is to score two points if a player’s ball at the end of a round is touching the target ‘pallino’, this is called a ‘kiss’. The video presented related two boules and bocce come from the Federation Les Boules and Federazione Italiana Bocce
Form I. Jue Traditional (boules) and standard (bocce) forms are characterized by first rolling the target balls, “cochonet” or “pallino” a prescribed distance on the court. Players then attempt to get their balls closest to the target ball to score points. A set number of points are needed to be reached to win the game.
Form II A progressive distance shooting (tossing) game where a synthetic grid at a distance is laid out. Target balls are set out at prescribed distances and include blocking balls to make the shooting task more difficult. When a ball is struck, the target ball is move further away on the grid to make the task more difficult. The French version is called Tir de Precision.
Form III. In this form called Point Tir Cible in French, a large circle is drawn on the playing surface at the required distance. A target ball is rolled into the circle from the far end of the playing surface, the objective then is to get closest to the target ball to score points, if a player can knock his/her opponents ball out of the circle while maintaining their ball in the circle, more points are scored.
Form IV. In this form called Tir Progressif, two players compete for a period of five minutes. Players shoot (toss) their ball at target balls on a grid that progresses the target ball once struck, players then run to the opposite end of the court and shoot their ball in the opposite direction. The player striking the most target balls along the grid wins the match. (This an aerobic form of the games)
Petanque
The game of petanque if an off-spring of the French game of boules. The game originated in southern France in 1907 in Laciotat in Provence. The name petanque comes from petanca in the provincial dialect of the Occitan language, meaning “feet together”. The game of boules was adapted for the sake of a very good boule player who was disabled due to rheumatism (arthritis). The disabled player was allowed to shoot his boule from a circle drawn on the ground as the traditional run up to shoot was eliminated. The rules of the game are the same as traditional boules otherwise.
Road Bowling
In the country of Ireland, the game of Irish road bowling has been played in the Irish country side since the 1600’s. the origins of the game are unclear, perhaps it was brought to the Emerald Isle from England by weavers in the textile industry, or by William of Orange, or maybe it began when Irish patriots robbed small English cannon balls and rolled them home by the light of a full moon. Irish troops traditionally have played the game wherever they were stationed around the world.
Road bowling has a passionate following primarily in county Armagh in the north where it is called “bullets” or “long bullets”. In the south, mostly in county Cork it is called road bowling. The game is played with a 28 oz. cast iron bowl, about 58mm in diameter. The rules are straight forward with the basic objective to cover the course of two miles in the least number of throws or “shots” as possible. Shots are bowled underhand and then shot again from where the bowl left the road.
Klootschiessen and Bosseln
In Germany, both are forms of bowl playing, the ‘kloot’ is a smooth wooden bowl weighted with lead inserted into drilled holes. There are throwing competitions for distance and another version of the game where two teams try to cover a certain distance (usually 6 km) in as few throws as possible, each successive throw being taken from the spot where the bowl ended up after the previous throw. The Klootschiessers’ (bowler) throw the ball underhand as far as possible and their teammates are forward on the road to give direction.