Bocce seems to be getting quite popular. We have a client who will install a court in his back yard, although not tournament size. It’s just for fun, and will work well next to a large entertainment area and patio – something amusing to do between courses.
Most people don’t have the space for a full size bocce court: courts are about twelve feet wide by sixty feet long! They’re also a bit more complicated than they might seem, with gravel subgrade for drainage, and compacted tennis court clay or crushed oyster shells for the playing surface.
I think I’d prefer the oyster shells, since I’d want the balls to stop a bit quicker in a smaller court.
If there were no hurry, I’d dine on oysters for a few years, throwing the shells where the court will go, then compact them to make the court. Admittedly, that would probably be cost-prohibitive. Luckily, you can buy crushed oyster shells sold online at $40 for a 50 pound bag. One source said that you’ll need six bags for a 10’x60′ court, so maybe seven bags to be safe for a 12′ wide court, bringing the surfacing cost to $280. People feed oyster shells to their chickens, so they should be available at your local feed store. Shipping 350 pounds of oyster shells can’t be cheap, so it would be good to know if should be a local source before deciding on this surface.
In France we play Pétanque, with rules similar to Bocce. People play Pétanque on gravel, under trees in open areas like parks, along the sides of ancient churches – wherever there’s a flat, gravelly area. No court required – although you still need quite a bit of room. The goal is to get your balls closest to the small “target” ball, called the cochonnet in French. A good team can rack up a lot of points, since one point is awarded for each ball closer to the cochonnet than the opponent’s. You can either roll your ball up to the cochonnet (pointer), or try to knock your opponent’s ball out of the way and take their place (tirer). This second strategy requires a lot of skill, since a mistake can lead to disastrous consequences for your team.
I think Bocce has slightly different rules and scoring than Pétanque, and the balls are larger.