by
Leyland Devito

Petanque, anyone?

Thanks to our French history, in Détroit we’re left with a lot of French words that nobody really pronounces properly. Petanque, the name of a game being played downtown in Campus Martius Park, doesn’t have to be one of them.

As Jeff Widen of the Detroit Petanque Club assures me, the pronunciation is really simple: Peh-TONK (“Like Tonka toys,” he explains, “and Pez but with an H instead of the Z”). Getting into the game is just as easy, all prospective players have to do is show up at Campus Martius Park between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM on Saturdays to join in on a game.

The rules of the game are also simple. Like the English bowls or the Italian bocce, petanque involves teams tossing heavy balls at a smaller target ball (called the cochonnet, translation: “piggy”), with points being earned for each ball that is closer to the cochonnet than the opposing team’s nearest ball. But one of the rules exclusive to petanque and one which contributes to its popularity is also the game’s namesake. “Petanque” comes from the French pieds tanqués, meaning “stuck feet”. Players must throw their balls with both of their feet on the ground within a small circle on the field, a rule that levels the playing field for older or handicapped people.

This accessibility attracts a variety of people to Campus Martius. Some petanquers have been playing since the Detroit Petanque Club started last summer, others are curious passersby or innocent bystanders who were roped into playing a round. The laid back nature of petanque makes for a revolving door of players, with people coming and going even midgame, matching the inexperienced with newcomers. The game just constantly goes on.

Jeff was first introduced to the game while vacationing in Paris two years ago, where he saw people playing in the Jardin du Luxembourg. When he got home he did some research on the Internet and found out about the game and the Michigan Petanque Club, a group of older people who have been playing at Royal Oak’s VFW Park since the Seventies. It was then that Jeff received his calling— he and his friend Joe Zajac decided that Detroit needed a Petanque Club of its own, and created the sister club.

Jeff has become somewhat of a Petanque Superhero since he discovered the game, wearing a French flag pin on his hat and a utility belt around his waist to hold his tape measurer and scorekeeper. He pulls me off to the side at one point during the day and shows me a prized artifact he obtained: an old petanque ball made out of nails hammered into a knot of wood, resembling the scales of a rolled up armadillo. It was created in France before there were forgeries to make the metal balls used today.

Jeff is also a wellspring of advice for novice petanquers. Though its premise is simple, a variety of strategies are available. Players can choose to hone their skills at “placing” their balls near the cochonnet or “shooting” the opponent’s balls out of the way. Forming a team of specialists based on their particular skills can add a fun, competitive aspect to the game.

Or you can just roll the ball. “Ignore him,” a man named Tony tells me. “Just roll the ball. You don’t know what’s gonna happen.” That advice sort of sums up the downtown petanque games very nicely. You don’t necessarily play to win or lose. Some people go downtown not even knowing they’re going to wind up playing a game. It’s not a bad attitude for life, especially during these lazy summer days. You just roll the ball— and see what happens.

Anyone interested in an introduction to petanque should attend the Michigan Challenge Tournament on Sunday, June 25th at Royal Oak’s VFW Park starting at 1:00 PM.

People interested in joining in on the Detroit Petanque Club’s games can meet up with players between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM at Campus Martius Park on Saturday or between 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM at the General Motors Promenade at the Renaissance Center in Detroit. Check out their blogsite here.

The Michigan Petanque Club meets between 1:00 PM and 6:00 PM at the VFW Park.

Leyland DeVito is studying illustration at Detroit's College for Creative Studies. He can be reached at flyingtreemonkey@aol.com.