La Boule Obut - Official approval of competition boules

Official approval of competition boules

Only boules that have obtained a seal of approval may be called pétanque competition boules.

To be used in official competitions, pétanque boules must be officially approved by F.I.P.J.P. and F.F.P.J.P. (the international and French federations of pétanque and Jeu Provençal) after satisfying all the specified requirements.The boule manufacturer must also have received the federation’s approval.

Therefore only officially-approved boules are allowed in official competitions.

To obtain these seals of approval, boules must satisfy a certain number of requirements, including the following:

Regulation markings

Every boule in a “triplette“ set of three must be engraved with the manufacturer’s trademark, the seal of approval for use in competition, the weight and the serial number.

Balancing < 1.3% of the weight of the boule.

Hardness of at least 35 HRC (110 kg/mm2).

The hardness of boules must be more than 110 kg per mm2, that is, all boules must be hardened by tempering.

Range of weight and diameters.

Large ranges of weights and diameters must be provided for adapting to all shapes of players’ hands.
Diameters must be from 70.5 mm to 80 mm, and weights from 650 g to 800 g

Boules are manufactured and sold in sets of three, making up a “triplette” set.

In singles or doublettes [doubles] competitions, each player must have 3 boules. It is only in triplettes [triples] competitions that players have 2 boules each.

These boules must be in metal, hollow with no ballast

The inside of the boules must not contain any added materials or other foreign bodies that fill all or part of the cavity.

Nowadays, many players, even those who only play occasionally, prefer to use competition boules because of their longer life and their balance, and because (just like a knife, for example) a set of boules is something that becomes very personal and which the user likes to get used to.