Boules…with a Twist

Justin Postlethwaite remembers the time he witnessed a bizarre-looking take on that most classic French pastime, a game of boules.

When I received our columnist Carol Drinkwater’s latest missive – with a photo of her local mairie in Le Cannet resplendently decked out for Christmas – I was reminded of my only visit to this hilltop town behind Cannes in Alpes-Maritimes about a decade ago. What indelibly etched the town into my memory was one of the most bizarre spectacles I’ve ever clapped eyes on in France – this was a game of boules with a real edge…

In Le Cannet they are innovative folk and the steep incline of the narrow Rue Saint-Sauveur is no deterrent to those who wish to play this most quintessential village game, traditionally accompanied by a glass or three of pastis, rosé or demi-pressions of beer. The rules are the same as for conventional boules: take turns to lob your three balls (une triplette) as close to the cochonnet (a much smaller, coloured jack, also sometimes called a titchon) as possible, blocking or knocking rivals’ balls along the way to notch up the 13 points required for victory. The key difference is that, instead of the usual metal spheres, Le Cannet’s boulistes (boules players) were deftly tossing gravity-defying square boules (boules carrées) in the direction of a similarly cuboid cochonnet. The thinking is genius in its simplicity: once the cubes stop, they don’t roll down the hill, évidemment! And instead of metal, these boules are made of dense wood (10cm wide), presumably so as not to leave a big dent in the bitumen when hurled in the air to displace another ball, a technique called tirer (to shoot).

Boules carrées was first played in the Voltaire district of Lyon in 1899 and spread out across the south of France over the next 100 years – besides Le Cannet, there are plenty of other sloped village centres where it is practised. It is really no different to classic boules, being based on the same principles, but many would argue that it actually takes a great deal more skill and experience to master this square version, given the greater unpredictability of both the bounce and slope. It should be pointed out, too, that this being France – the land of contrariness and regional versions of things – there are a few notable exceptions to the wooden square boule tradition. In Sète, for example, they play with 700g (standard round boules weight) metal cubes during the town’s boisterous annual Saint-Louis festivities. And in some places, in what sounds like double contrariness, boules carrées is even played on a conventional flat piste. C’est comme ça!

World champions

Naturally, there’s a ‘world championship’, held in Haut-de-Cagnes, though I’m not sure many participants come from Adelaide or Arkansas. The 2024 event was the 43rd edition and drew 121 teams and 363 players over the weekend. Elsewhere, the annual French championships takes place in Bagnols-en-Forêt (Var) in July.

While such events do have a certain competitive element, more importantly, they represent pure conviviality and communal fun, an alternative to what some players see as the more serious nature of pétanque – it is still a game rather than a sport. As one player from the Sète tournament told local news outlet France Bleu in August this year. “It’s all about the spirit of camaraderie here, there are no best, no strongest, no good guys, no bad guys. Everyone’s on the same level. Above all, there are no rules! You can play against walls, you can play anywhere. The winner is the one with the most luck! We’re all in it for the laughs, we don’t let it go to our heads.”

Keep an eye out for this summer’s world championships held in August – you could even enter yourself.

From France Today Magazine