Bocce Ball Rules & Regulations

Basics

• The first thing that you need to know about Bocce Ball is that there are nine balls in a game. There are two sets of four balls, and each set designates a team and has its own color. The ninth ball is called the pallino. The general idea is to get a ball from your team as close to the pallino as possible. You have to stand a specified distance from the pallino at either end of a designated court. The court must be over 60 feet long. There are two lines, the pitch line and the volo line, that you are allowed to stand at. The volo line is eight feet closer than the pitch line. The distance from the volo line to the pallino varies based on preference. Basically, you have the pallino in the middle of a court. It is an unspecified distance from the two volo lines. That distance can be however far a specific league wishes it to be, usually at least 10 feet. Each team has its own volo line that is the same distance from the pallino. Then there is eight feet to each team's pitch line and then a 16 foot line after that, which designates the farthest away from the pallino you can throw. If you throw from beyond that line it is considered a foul.

  There is a 60 foot minimum and 95 foot maximum length to the court. The court must be between 10 and 15 feet wide.

Giro, Rounds and Winning

• Only one team may score points during each giro. A giro is like a game in tennis. There are gira (plural of giro) and rounds. A round is like a set in tennis. Each time you throw all the balls and determine which ones are closest, that ends a giro. The end of a round happens when, during a giro, a team reaches nine points. You can play multiple rounds and whoever wins the most rounds wins the match.

Types of Throws

• There are three different types of throws that players can make. You have to call a specific throw ahead of time, and if you foul, then everything is returned to its original position and the ball is pulled from play. A foul is defined as completing an action with the ball different than the specified throw. The three types of throws are called punto, raffo and volo. A punto is not allowed to touch other bocces, but can touch the pallino. If at the end of a round a bocce is closer than other bocces to the pallino, it nets the team one point. If on a punto throw a bocce kisses (directly touches) the pallino and remains there until the end of a giro, then that bocce scores two points. On a raffo throw the bocce can only touch other bocces to knock them out of the way. Both the punto and the raffo must be thrown from the pitch line. A volo throw is an aerial (not a bowling throw) and is aimed at moving either the pallino or another bocce. However, a volo can be thrown at a line closer the pitch line. Teams alternate with one of these throws until all eight bocce balls are on the court.

Team Size and Order of Play.

• As there are only eight balls, there can be a maximum of eight players, each one throwing a ball. You could also have two and four players each throwing four and two balls respectively. Teams alternate throws until the giro is ended. In order to determine who goes first, a team specifies a player to do a one-time throw towards the pallino. The closest team wins throwing priority.

Scoring

• Scoring goes like this. If a bocce ball is kissing the pallino it is worth two points. Also, for every bocce ball, other than a kissing one, that is closer than the other team's closest ball, the team with the closer bocce gets one point. If a team were to have four balls closer to the pallino than the other team's closest ball, they would get four points.