Royal Oak Pistes Almost Ready

Royal Oak piste estimated to begin play in about 2 weeks. A few test boules on Saturday show that the ground still needs some drying. Keep watching the website for start times, it won't be long now!

"Hard Rock"er Tony T

Tony T is defending his reputation as the most-skilled DPC pointer...

As the Ice Melts - Our Club Plays On

Gene & Sharon Love the Competition

Gene and Sharon live and breathe petanque. Sharon told me that she even effectuates pointing throws when she's asleep!

Boule In Hand Rule - TonyT & Sharon win 4 Points

Article 13 of the FPUSA rules provides for the Boule-in-Hand rule. When the cochon is knocked off the piste, and only one team has boules left unplayed, then that team receives a point for each unplayed boule.

TonyT & Sharon paved their way to victory when TonyT struck the cochon right off the piste.

Deric Points In the CLosest Boule

Deric played boule with the rest of us on Saturday. His pointing has become extremely reliable - and he's usually right within a few inches of the cochon.

12-noon - Lunchtime Games Back In Session

I'm sorry if I missed a few people yesterday (Renee reports that she saw Melissa K. and Gregory D. as well as TonyT come by on Thursday) - work kept me busy. But if you bring your boules, and for some crazy reason I'm not there, you'll still probably meet up with another player during the lunchtime games. As the weather gets nicer and warmer, our usual members will be coming out for some boule.

Gregory Using the "Luck 'o the Irish" for his Shooting?

Seems like we now know why the Didierjeans play petanque so well - they use the luck of the Irish! Seen here marching in Corktown with Melissa K. this week.

[Note: THANKS M. for the photo]

The Royal Oak Terrain

Being skeptical of the report on the website that the Royal Oak piste was "still a bit soggy" (sorry Joe/Jeff), I ventured forth yesterday afternoon, boules in hand, in hopes of finding that the piste had miraculously dried out. After all, the weather was warm and sunny, with a bit of a breeze.

But alas! When I threw my first boule of the season out onto the piste -- a demi-portée -- instead of landing and rolling up against the cochonnet, as I'm used to seeing (ha!), it embedded itself solidly into the surface, without a single bounce.

Not to be put off so easily, I tried different sections of the piste, especially those that looked as if they'd had a chance to bake in the sun more. The best result I could come up with was with a roll shot -- the boule managed to skitter a few feet before the softness of the ground caused it to dig in and come to a premature stop. Not being content with just rolling my boules (this isn't bocce ball, after all!), I finally gave up and went home, smoothing over the boule-sized depressions that I'd just created before leaving.

So this week I'll be praying for warm, dry, and breezy weather to descend upon Royal Oak, even though the extended forecast calls for chilly weather and snow showers by the end of the week. The power of faith is not to be underestimated, however, especially when it comes to wanting to play pétanque after a long, boule-less winter!

Saturday - March 11 - Beautiful Petanque Day

Guests from Paris; Slovokia; and Michigan

CuBOULES at the Michigan Cuboules Club !

Never ones to sit on our hands, The MPC and DPC have searched the globe for obscure sports, and now we're playing CUBOULES. The sport of Cuboules originated in the hills of France where Les Boules Carrees have been played for decades. The sloped terrain didn't allow for regular (sphere) boules to remain in place, so cubed pieces of wood were used instead. Most of the rules for CuBoules are the same as Petanque except: You stand in a square (not a circle); You play to 16 points (that's 4 squared); If a CuBoule lands atop


another CuBoule (or the CubeCochon) it's an instant win for that match. As a sideline amusement for the Members of the Detroit and Michigan CuBOULES clubs, we also Square-Dance before and after each game.

We invite you to come down to our square-piste, to play CuBoules with a bunch of squares like us.

Vice-Mascot - Celia meets the rest of the club

Saturday, James and Cheryl brought over their new puppy, Celia. She is a Havanese and this makes roughly 4-5 Havanese dogs as part of the Michigan Petanque scene.

Sharon Consistent as Ever in Her Shooting & Pointing

We had a fantastic season opener today (Saturday) at Campus Martius Park. While dozens of skaters whizzed by us on the ice rink, we were warmed by the Sun and happily bouling rink-side, on the two impromptu courts we set up. As the Winter chill subsides, we should have our regular weekend club meets back online.

Familiar Faces and Lots of Boule Play

Season Opener a Grand Success

It's going to be a different season - I guarantee it!

It took an extra 2 weeks for the special order 8500mm boules to arrive from France, but it will be well worth the wait. "There's absolutely no way I can miss a shot," boasted DPC President Jeff Widen, "I'm going to win every match our club plays."

There are some logistic problems to be overcome, namely, how is Jeff going to get past the FPUSA 80mm size maximum for competiton boules?

Jeff has an easy answer to that: "Simple. When we have an FPUSA event, I'll switch to my 74mm Integrale AC's, but in our casual weekend games, I'll use these babies!"

Petanque Cubes in the French Riviera

Over 300 players joined for the "Circle of Friends" 26th World Championship for les boules carrees in Haut des Cagnes... They were originally devised for playing on very sloped surfaces. The Michigan Petanque Club will be holding their first "Cubed Boules Tournament" this year.

More Petanque Games at Campus Martius Park - at Lunchtime

James called me up today and we met at lunchtime to play a few games of boule. James won the first (though I had a good start) and I won the last (by a slim margin). James is using his Kung-Fu Boule techniques with great success. The weather is getting nicer and nicer - with some days pushing near 40 degrees. If you think the weather is nice during the week, give me a shout and I'll come down around noon to play petanque.

Petanque at Campus Martius Park with Lindsay, Joe & Jeff

Warm Weather at Campus Martius Park

With the warm weather on Thursday, I was able to toss the boules around at Campus Martius Park. The ground is nice and firm, ice/snow-free and there's no chairs/tables to move. An ideal setting for petanque.

I know we're going to have a great season and I want the members to pull their boules out of their closets, sand the rust off the surface and start practicing.

Joe and I are planning a season opener tournament and we want you to be ready.

Meet Celia - VP-Mascot of Detroit Petanque Club

The Detroit Petanque Club has an offical VP-Mascot, Celia. T'Choupi is more than happy to have a "back-up" Havanese - the two dogs got along very nicely.

Denise (left) is holding Celia. Cheryl is holding T'Choupi. Notice Celia's paws... she is going to be "silver tipped" when an adult.

Celia eating out of T'Choupi's water dish. It's not a problem -- the Detroit Petanque Club likes to share.

Joe shows us both his Blue Balls AND his Fanny

It was a night of firsts, including a first Fanny - as we see Joe's result in miniBOULE against Ken.

And here is Joe with his new boules (71mm 800 grams!!!) a very dangerous pointing set direct from Marsailles, France (La Boule Bleu). He'll have an easier time keeping an eye on his boules this year.

First miniBOULE Tournament at 227 Bistro

The first North American miniBOULE tournament was held on Saturday night at 227 Bistro in Rochester, Michigan. Though snow and ice fell throughout Detroit, this didn't keep the die-hard miniBOULE players away from the competition.
We marked off several courts in the very cozy "cigar room" of 227 Bistro. The paintings, soft lighting, and comfy furnishings really gave the miniBOULE experience a classy feeling. Between rounds we ate appetizers, drank wine, and socialized.

The complimentary steak dinners were delicious and huge! I especially enjoyed the 6-layer chocolate cake (Shhh don't tell my wife!) and we started off with great appetizers: Buffalo Mozzarella; Bruschetta; and fried Calamari.


The 1st (Dan) and 2nd (Ken) place champions with their prizes. It was a singles tournament with each player competing against each other player.