by Jac Verheul, and Mike Pegg gave a very helping hand in the translation.

After the birth of the game of petanque in 1910 (some sources say 1907) in La Ciotat near Marseille the game soon spread over the southern part of France. A short time later the game was being played all over France and after the Second World War the whole Western Europe and several other countries. At the beginning of the 21st century petanque is practised in more than 50 countries on all continents.

Although it is certain that petanque is the most well known and practised game of boules in the whole world, there are still a lot of other types. In France, as with the rest of the world, there are games that are much older than petanque (actually, petanque is the youngest descendant of the vast family of boules, bocce and bowls). Here is a summary of some of the better-known games.

• FRENCH GAMES - petanque and jeu provençal
• FRENCH GAMES - boule lyonnaise
• FRENCH GAMES - other types of games
  • Boule de fort
  • Boule nantaise
  • Boule des berges
  • Boule des flandres
  • Boule bretonne
  • Boule en bois
• FLEMISH GAMES
• ITALIAN GAMES
• ENGLISH GAMES
  • flat green bowls
  • crown green bowls
  • indoor bowls
• MALTESE GAMES - bocci