How to Play Pétanque Properly
An ode to a sport whose insignificance conceals great seriousness.
Pétanque is a precision sport in the genre of boules, in which two teams attempt to place a set number of boules as near as possible to a target boule, or a “jack“. The word can be traced back through French to the Occitan pés, feet, which is based on the Latin pedes, the plural of pes, which in turn comes from to the Occitan tancar, feet together, which comes from vulgar Latin. Something like that, anyway, but it doesn't really matter, I don't really know anything about it and I have been playing for years. All you need is enthusiasm and people who don’t take life too seriously, a few boules, which do not need to be expensive ones costing 400 Swiss Francs with engraved initials, although they can be, just to illustrate the philosophical precession of this sport. Its extraordinary seriousness lies in its apparent absurdity. It is not merely a game of marbles. There are hierarchies, positions and a film with Gérard Depardieu which portrays this well. There are clear rules, although they are just the cage in which one can fly.