It's been a long winter without our usual outdoor petanque club meetings. But Joe and Jeff do have a solution: miniBOULES

We've field-tested miniBOULES at different locations and found that you can shoot; point; push; roll; plombe; and perform nearly all of the same strategy as in regular Petanque. The pluses? You can also play indoors on carpet, in a conveniently smaller space without freezing your butt off!

The Michigan and Detroit Petanque Clubs will be holding a miniBOULES doubles tournament at 227 Bistro in Rochester, Michigan on Saturday, February 11th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Teams can arrive pre-selected or we can compose teams when you show up. Each team will play every other team, with the highest ranked two teams playing in a miniBOULES final. There will be prizes and skills tests in shooting and pointing plus 227 has excellent food at reasonable prices.

227 Bistro is located at 227 S. Main Street, Rochester, MI 48307 (248) 652-2585

Contact Joe - Jeff or Joyce to R.S.V.P. so we'll know how many courts to set-up.

Detroit Petanque Club Plays at COBO Hall during Auto Show

..... No dust (or gravel) on our shoes, the Detroit Petanque Club decided to break out the MiniBOULES and play some serious mini-Petanque over at Cobo Hall. Jeff parks on the roof-deck at Cobo Hall and due to the enormous traffic this week (Auto Show) - he arrives at around 7:00am. He caught up with Gene and Tony (Gene's finance, Sharon, is working at the Auto Show this week) and brought along his miniBOULES for a mini-Tournament on the expanse of carpet at Cobo. "There is enough space here for 1,000 courts of MiniBOULE," Jeff expressed excitedly, "and with this international crowd we've been getting plenty of interest."

Mini-Boule will be played all this week at Cobo ... catch the club playing from 7am to about 9am...

Fatal Mini-Boule Accident Kills Mini-Me

Here is the last image taken of Mini-Me just before he was crushed under the tremendous weight of a mini-boule. The accident occurred when Mini-Boule enthusiast, Jeffrey, attempted a mini-Carreau (or in MB lingo... a Carrette) striking his mini-boule against Mini-Me's skull - killing him instantly. For those who were wondering... Yes, Jeff did effectuate a successful shot -- getting the point.

Mini-Boules in Jeff's Basement

Dinner party for 8 last night, but with my main plan of sneaking a few games of mini-boules out of this crowd. Success! We held a Mini-mini-Boule Tournament (Best of Three) downstairs at the Widen Mini-Boulodrome.

Team James/Cheryl against Team Ken/Jeff. The first game was won by James & Cheryl. Cheryl's pointing was masterful, and James was trying out plombette throws. Game two, Jeff & Ken won, with some crucial strategy... we pointed (PINTed - "every term is downsized) in and then put up a mini-wall of boulettes up-front to plock them. Surprisingly, James shot away our close boule "Tir-au-Ferrette" twice! Then the final game... it was 12/11 (us) - and we had the 13th point sitting there... but with her last mini-boule, Cheryl shot our close boule away, pulling in their 2 close boules... and getting La Belle.. Victory!


Virtually everything about mini-boule is the same or very similar to regular-sized petanque. You can perform all of the shots, pointing, strategy... and do it in an area 1/3rd the size... I used painter's tape to mark off the piste and standing areas... It helps it your carpet is a thin one, sorta industrial cheapo style... it allows for more realistic boule motion.


Eyeballing the basement...ummm Mini-Boulodrome... I'd say we can squeeze in 4 pistes easily... and thus, able to have ALL of our members over for semi-regular petanque playing during the winter...


---Yeah... I'm Nuts!

Petanque on Wells Beach

Winter Pétanque is Alive and Well and Living in Paris

In Paris, pétanque knows no season. When I visited the pistes of the A.S.J.L. Pétanque Club at the Luxembourg Gardens a few days before Christmas, the weather was mild and the boules were lively.

These guys take their pétanque seriously, so much so that their terrain has all the trappings. If you look closely between the pistes, you'll see a rack to hang their coats while they play (and check out the boules lockers in the picture below). Sort of gives us some ideas for Royal Oak...