Q&A for How to Play Bocce Ball

Yes, of course! You can play anywhere that you'd like. It's also a popular beach game.

It's acceptable to hit the Jack. The rules don't change, the closest to the Jack rule still applies for scoring.

Yes, you can play a ball off of the rail. It makes for some very fun shots.

Generally, yes, but there could be only two unless the rules being used prohibit it. More than four really defeats the purpose of teamwork.

Each round is begun by opposite teams, so if Team A threw out the jack and bocce ball first, then Team B would do it the next round.

I don't see why not. Use a small space in your yard and let them have fun. You can vary the rules to make it closer to "official" as they grow. The point of any game is to have fun!

If the ball hits the back wall without touching another ball on the way, the ball is dead and removed from the court. If it touches another ball before hitting the back wall, the throw is valid and the ball remains where it stops.

At least three. If, somehow, all three were "kissing" the jack, you would get six points, two for each ball kissing the jack.

If your ball bounces off the back board before it touches another ball, it is removed from the court. If it touches another ball on its way to the back board, it remains on the court where it stops and is counted as a valid throw.

If the ball hits the back wall without touching another ball, it is removed from the court. If it touches another ball on its way to the back wall, it remains where it stops and is a valid throw.

There is no penalty and the Jack's new position is legal. Hitting the Jack is often used to re-position the Jack to change the score.

The person/team that scored gets to throw the little ball and their ball first.

If the closest balls from both teams are the same distance (and kissing the jack would certainly be the same distance), no points are scored, and the team that delivered the jack delivers it again.

Then the initial team throws again. If it continues after the third try, the other team throws the Jack.

The number of players depends on the total number of balls. I've seen 2 sets of Bocci balls joined together, with 2 teams, but with 16 people it can get interesting. I prefer staying with 4 red balls, 4 green balls, which means 8 people with 2 teams.

It doesn't mean anything. If it hits theirs and it moves, then it moves. It doesn't deduct from your total or anything. If you hit theirs and it moves and yours goes closer, then you get the point if it's the closest one.

At your own peril. It is a perfectly valid strategy on the part of the player who just hit your ball, and you might get hit in the head with another ball if you try to move it.

“IF” a team was fortunate enough to have all 4 balls kissing (touching) the jack, that team would earn a maximum of 8 points (this is given you are scoring 1 point for closest ball and 2 points for kissing the jack).

If the pallino is hit out of bounds, any points scored are canceled and you would then proceed with your opponent throwing from the opposite side of the court.

Yes. If your team has second and third shot, knocking out their first shot will give you 4 points, provided your last shot is also closer to the jack.

In both tournament play and casual play you must win by two. This makes the game more decisive.

If you move the jack, then it re-adjusts the nucleus of where you want to aim your balls.

Yes, but you would probably find the game more fun playing on a gravel court.

Of course. Bocce is a competitive and entertaining game and can be enjoyed in smaller areas. Tournament play, however, must be played on a regulation court.

If the jack goes out of the frame, and there is no backstop where it went out, place the ball on the frame in the exact spot where it went out.

You get 2 points for each ball touching the jack if all the balls are the same color.

Color-blind people can more easily distinguish between green and red than many other colors.

In that case each person would have two balls the same color.

No. You cannot throw with two hands. Only one hand is allowed to throw the ball.

If the jack is knocked out of the court or it is knocked in the front of the center line, the frame will end, no points are awarded and the game will resume from the opposite end of the court with the same team tossing the jack (a do-over).