PORT TOWNSEND — A French game that has elements of horseshoes, bocce ball, bowling and croquet has become a popular pastime at a Port Townsend tavern, which will host a tournament Sunday.
On any given day, several people can be found playing petanque behind the Pourhouse, 2231 Washington St., in the gravel area between the building and the beach.
“This is a great game that you can enjoy with different skill levels,” said Angelica Garcia, a freelance designer.
“It looks simple, but it is not and is a good game to play while drinking beer.”
While casual players can be found at the Pourhouse on most sunny days in the late afternoon, the seriousness is kicked up a notch during the Low Tide Tournament.
The next tournament will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday at Decatur Street Beach behind the Pourhouse.
It will move to the regular court when the tide rises.
A $5 donation is suggested from all players. All proceeds will go to the Jefferson County Food Bank.
The winner will get bragging rights, his or her name on a trophy and a “hunnerd dollar gift certificate,” according to the event’s flier.
The second-place winner will get a $20 gift certificate, while third and fourth places will get “Pourhouse Consolation Beverages.”
A game of petanque — pronounced pay-tonk — begins with the throwing of a “jack,” a small wooden sphere the size of a pingpong ball, toward one end of a gravel court. Then, players toss metal balls known as “boules.”
The point is to get them to land close to the jack.
Players stand in a metal ring at the opposite end of the court from the jack, pitching the boules with an underhanded motion.
While the number of balls thrown by each person varies according to whether it is single or team play, points are accumulated with regard to the distance to the jack.
“It’s a real easy game to learn, but the more you play, the more complicated it gets,” said Blair Francis, a carpenter who also is a regular player.
Petanque’s Port Townsend presence is credited to musician Robert Force, who discovered the game while on tour in Ohio about three years ago.
“When you play in small folk clubs, it is customary to be put up in someone’s home, and I was staying with a French gentleman named Gerry Teyssier, who had a court set up in his backyard,” Force said.
“Over three days, we played 50 games, and I won only one, which was amazing because he was a small guy who was about 80 years old.”
Force soon purchased his own set of boules and set up a court in his backyard, slowly improving his game.
A few months later, the Pourhouse was opening up, and its owners were deciding what to do with its large back courtyard.
Horseshoes or bocce ball were under consideration when Force suggested petanque.
Virginia Marston, who owns the Pourhouse with her husband, Ned Herbert, said the flexibility of petanque’s rules and court size convinced them it was the right way to go.
Force said petanque courts can be any size and shape, as long as players can toss the balls 18 to 20 feet and land with a 2-foot buffer to the boundary.
The Pourhouse court is 16 feet by 48 feet.
Committed players have their own sets of boules — Force has three — but several sets areon hand at the Pourhouse for people to use
The boules are made of metal, usually aluminum or steel; have a diameter of about 3 inches; and generally weigh about 720 grams (1½ pounds).
Petanque players often travel with a set of boules so they can participate in games on the road, though it can be a challenge to get them through airport security, Force said.
Aside from the petanque court at the Pourhouse, Force said he knows of two people, besides himself, who have built petanque courts in their backyards.
And even though it’s often played with a beer in hand, it qualifies as exercise.
“It gets you outside and moving around, and helps you to build up upper-body strength,” Force said.
“You walk around from one end of the court to the other carrying the boules, and you have to bend over 30 to 60 times picking up a 6-pound weight (carrying three balls) during the course of a game.”
The tournament games will be played to 13 points or one hour, whichever comes first.
Aside from the tournament, the Pourhouse’s summer petanque league, to include 10 teams of three players each, is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
For more information about the tournament or the league, call 360-774-6117.
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
