History

Pétanque is reputed to have been invented around 1910 as a less physically-demanding form of jeu provençal. Physical effort was reduced by reducing the length of the pitch by roughly half and replacing a moving delivery with a stationary one. The name is derived from the French pieds tanqués, "fixed feet", because in Pétanque the feet have to remain together within a (small) circle. Pétanque is also known as Jeu de Boules, "the game of balls". Many French villages have a special stadium for the game called a Boulodrome.

The international Pétanque federation Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal was founded in 1958 in Marseille and has about 600,000 members in 52 countries.

The first World Championships were organised in 1959. The most recent championships were held in Faro, Portugal (2000), Monaco (2001), Grenoble (2002), Geneva (2003), Grenoble (2004) and Brussels (2005). Fifty-three countries participated in 2004 and the number is growing every year.