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...

East Coast Chapter meeting

The East Coast Chapter had their first meeting of the year last night. They played on Wells Beach Maine with the visiting Detroit members (Melissa/Gregory) won.

The low tide hard sand made for a decent surface though it was necessary to move around the beach. Footprints kept snagging the boules.

Later in the evening, the mini-boules were brought out and more locals were introduced to the game.

Photes to come later.

Mini-Boules in Melissa's Living Room

When winter hits in Michigan, the petanque playing doesn't stop - it just shrinks down to 1/3 scale and we play in our friend's homes! Wednesday night, twenty of us packed into Melissa's apartment and we played a series of doublettes, and triplette games amidst all of the festivity revelers. The surprising thing is that the mini-Boules (Mar-Boules) play pretty close to the actual sized boules... we were able to point, shoot even (I did a Tir-au-Fer!) - and of course the strategy is the same. I think, at the evening's conclusion - we had another 10 new converts!

Happy Holiday from Joe, Jeff, and Santa

Happy Holiday from Joe, Jeff, and Santa
Originally uploaded by JeffreyWiden.

We had a fantastic year with our clubs, tournaments and parties. Let's make sure we have an even better 2006. We're looking at various solutions to the winter petanque problem -- and haven't yet given up hope.

Joe and I are more than happy to crash your year-end holiday events, just give us an e-mail! We even have MINI-BOULES - enough for an indoor tournament!

HOLIDAY GREETINGS TO ALL OF OUR PETANQUE FRIENDS

Joyce Points in a Winning Bocce Ball

Joyce Points in a Winning Bocce Ball
Originally uploaded by JeffreyWiden.

We couldn't have made all of these nice arrangements for the Holiday party without the efforts of Joyce "Rubber Duckie" - who made all of the calls - and re-calls - and e-mails to Palazzo di Bocce.

Thierry Dawn Stefan & Lukas Looking Grand in their Santa Hats

Thierry Dawn Stefan & Lukas Looking Grand in their Santa Hats
Originally uploaded by JeffreyWiden.

Joyce Dan & Joe Satisfying their Boule Urges

Joyce Dan & Joe Satisfying their Boule Urges
Originally uploaded by JeffreyWiden.

It's tough not being able to play our favorite game. But Bocce comes pretty close to it - especially on a cold winter's evening.

Santa Joe in his Official Monaco Bocce Jersey

Santa Joe in his Official Monaco Bocce Jersey
Originally uploaded by JeffreyWiden.

Holiday Gathering

Holiday Gathering
Originally uploaded by JeffreyWiden.

James, Cheryl, Sue, Cathy, Larry & Joyce (top)

Joe, Jeff, Mike & Dan (bottom)

We were later joined by Thierry, Dawn, Lukas & Stefan. We held the bocce courts until 7pm, while dining on fried ravioli and pizza, then went to the dining room to talk about what were were doing for the holidays. It was good to see the familiar faces and we all look forward to getting outside to play petanque.

Am I the ONLY one Crazy Enough to be out here in 13 degree Weather?

It had to happen, eventually: the day when I'd go out to Campus Martius Park and I'd be the only one crazy enough to show up. and here I was in my new "Red Baron" cap too -- with not a soul to make fun of me. I tossed some boules around -- practiced some shooting/pointing. Then I hi-tailed it back to the firm for a cup-o-soup!

Why Not Play Petanque in the Basement?

With snow on the terrain, and deeper snow coming, we in the Northern states need to come up with solutions for our "Petanque Fix"

Don and Jeff have decided to convert the basement at Jeff's place into a "Palace of Boule" - and not just one court, Jeff can fit about 6 courts down there... It's not as difficult as you'd imagine, you just need the right... dimensions of equipment!!!!

Rochester Parade has Large Petanque Showing

Website still gaining traffic

Website traffic is up almost 50% from earlier this summer! Thanks to our BLOG posting members for their pics, and thanks to the entire club for making such great pics possible! The interest in our site and all of our club activities is proof that we're all doing a good job at making petanque fun for everyone. And that's one of the reasons why I'm so happy to be involved! Merci Beaucoup!!!