Boule Rouge Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Set Up
• Important Concepts
• How To Play
  • Round Set Up
  • Turn Series
  • Turn Example With Collision
  • Round's End
• Game Variants
  • Advanced Cards
  • List of Advanced Cards
  • Professional Game
• Gameplay Reminder
  • Round Set Up

Components

• 1 Petanque piste (board)
• 1 Scoring board
• 55 Cards
  • 46 Cards (23 for each team)
  • 9 Advanced cards
• 12 Ball tokens (6 for each team)
• 1 Jack token
• 2 Scoring cubes
• 1 White die
• 1 Black die
• 1 Advantage pawn

Game Set Up

1. Place in the centre of the table: the board, the 2 dice, the jack and the advantage pawn.
2. Distribute the players as evenly as possible into 2 teams (in petanque terms this is known as a mêlée) and sit down as evenly as possible. Each team chooses one of the 2 available colours. Each team is allocated:
   • 23 cards of their colour. Shuffle them and create a face-down deck.
   • 6 balls of their colour.
   • 1 scoring cube of their colour, which is placed at the top of their scoring track.

Important Concepts

Boule Rouge approaches the game of petanque with licences, while retaining its spirit.

• Talking and cards: During the game you can talk to each other but you cannot tell or show the cards you have.
• Jack: The jack is the neutral ball that both teams want to get as close to as possible.
• Having the advantage: When any ball of the shooting team is in a section equal to or closer to the jack than the closest ball to the jack of the opposing team, that team has the advantage. We recommend placing this ball as close to the jack as possible, so that it is apparent that it has given the advantage. The advantage pawn should then be placed on this ball to indicate this.

How To Play

The game lasts 2 or 3 rounds, and in each round both teams play. The first team to win 2 rounds wins the game. Each round consists of:

1. Round Set Up
2. Turn Series
3. Round's End

Round Set Up

1. Balls: Each team builds up its stock of available balls by placing the 6 balls of its team near the bottom of the board.
2. Cards: Each player draws cards from their deck according to the number of players on their team: 1 (7 cards); 2 (4 cards); 3 (3 cards).
3. Initiative: If it is the first round, choose heads or tails which team makes way. Otherwise, the team that has just won the previous round makes way.
4. Make way: The team decides which of its players throws the jack. This player plays a card from their hand and places the jack in the corresponding section on the board. Finally, they place the played card in their team's discard pile, face up.
5. Plan: Each other player discards a card from their hand to their team's discard pile, face down. These cards will not be played this round, but will be played next round.

Turn Series

The team that makes way starts the turn. The turns do not alternate between teams, but each team plays until they get the advantage (matching the distance of the closest ball to the other team's to the jack, or getting closer) and then passes the turn to the team in disadvantage. Each turn, follow these steps in order:

• A. Choose the player who will play the turn.
• B. Shoot. This player shoots a ball:
  1. Plays a card from their hand to their team's discard pile, face up.
  2. Places one of their available balls in the corresponding section on the board.
  3. Chooses one of the two spins and applies it to the ball that has just been thrown, deciding whether they want it to collide with another ball / jack or not.
     • Forward spin: roll the white die and move the ball upwards.
     • Backspin: roll the black die and move the ball downwards.
• Collision. The result of the die indicates the exact number of moves to be applied (no more or less). It will be applied on the ball placed in step B2, section by section, following the direction of the chosen spin. The ball may collide with other balls as it enters their section (including the balls in their section in step B2). In each collision, the ball that was moving stops in the section where the ball it collided with is located, and the ball it collided with continues the remaining movement.
• C. Check if the active team has now the advantage. If not, repeat steps A, B and C until your team has the advantage.
• D. If your team has now the advantage, move the advantage pawn on top of the ball that earned it, and the other team takes their turn.

Example of throwing the first ball choosing the black die but without any collision. The ball is placed in the section of the board and moved downwards by the result of the black die (-1). This ball can also collide again. The balls may collide with both the jack and a ball, but the jack may not collide with the balls. If due to a move a ball must be placed out of the board, it is out of play for this round.

If a team moves the jack out of the board, the opposing team scores 1 point and a new round begins.

Turn Example With Collision

The team of Anna, Pau and Eloi (iron team) don't have the advantage so they take the turn. After discussing strategy, they decide that Anna will play that turn.

Anna plays a "5" card from her hand, places the card face up on the team's discard pile, and then places one of her available balls in section #5 (B2). She chooses the forward spin, so she rolls the white die and gets a "4" (B3), so she must apply 4 moves upwards, starting with the ball she has just placed.

First she advances the ball +1 section, entering section #6 and consuming 1 move of the 4 she had initially (3 moves left). As this section contains a ball, she must decide whether she wants to collide or not. She decides yes, so her ball stops and will not move any further. As there is still movement left, she moves the copper ball from section #6 to section #7, where it meets the jack (2 moves left). She decides not to collide with the jack, so she advances the copper ball to section #8 (1 move left). In this section there is another copper ball, and she could decide that they collide. Anna hesitates, so she asks the other members of her team what they would prefer her to do. After discussing the move, Anna decides that there should be a collision: the ball that has just entered section #8 stops, and the ball that was already in section #8 moves forward +1. There is no more movement, so Anna checks whether her team has the advantage. As both teams have the ball closest to the jack at the same distance (1 section), but Anna's team is shooting, Anna's team has the advantage! They take the pawn from the copper ball on section #8, place it on their ball on section #6, and now it is the other team's turn to take a turn.

Round's End

The round ends when the team in disadvantage must take a turn but none of their players have any cards left.

The team with the advantage wins this round, and advances their scoring cube 1 space on their scoring track. Then, if the team that just won the round:

• Has 2 points, they win the game - congratulations!
• Has 1 point, its members discard their remaining cards and continue the game from the Round Set Up step (page 3).

Game Variants

Advanced Cards

There is a set of 9 advanced cards that add more excitement to the games, and we recommend using them when you are already familiar with the base game. For this variant, play the normal rules with the following changes:

At the end of the Initiative step of the first round, shuffle the 9 advanced cards and deal 3 face down to the team that makes way. They examine them and choose 1, and give the other 2 to the other team, which examines them and chooses 1 as well. Return the remaining 7 cards to the box, they will not be used in this game. Each team keeps its advanced card face down, and its members can consult it at any time. Therefore, each team has only 1 advanced card available for the entire game.

Each advanced card can only be played once per game, and once played it is returned to the box. To play the team's advanced card, the player in turn first plays the normal card from their hand and, before placing the corresponding ball, plays the advanced card and applies its effects.

List of Advanced Cards

1. Make a bottle: Ignore the value of the card played from your hand. Place the ball in the jack section. Do not roll any dice.
2. The counter: Ignore the value of the card played from your hand. Place the ball in the section where the advantage pawn is located. Choose a die, roll it and apply its effect.
3. The square: Ignore the value of the card played from your hand. Remove a ball from the other team and place your ball in that section. If the removed ball had the pawn on it, place it on your ball. Do not roll any dice.
4. Boomerang: Place the ball in the section corresponding to the card played from your hand. Roll the black die and you can add 1, 2 or 3 to the move.
5. Bomb: Place the ball in the section corresponding to the card played from your hand. Roll the white die and you can add 1, 2 or 3 to the move.
6. Drag: Place the ball in the section corresponding to the card played from your hand, choose a die, roll it and apply its effect. If your ball collides with the jack, you may decide to let your ball follow the entire movement of the jack instead of staying in the collision section. In this case, your ball cannot collide with any other ball.
7. Aim short: Ignore the value of the card played from your hand. Place the ball in section 1, 2 or 3. Choose a die, roll it and apply its effect.
8. Long Aim: Ignore the value of the card played from your hand. Place the ball in section 8, 9 or 10. Choose a die, roll it and apply its effect.
9. Aim for the end: Ignore the value of the card played from your hand. Place the ball in section 1, 2, 9 or 10. Choose a die, roll it and apply its effect.

Professional Game

This variant is more like a physical game of petanque, and is recommended if you are already familiar with the base game. It is compatible with advanced cards and usually takes longer to play. The team that reaches 13 points first (instead of 2) wins the game.

Play by normal rules with the following changes:

• During Round Set Up: If you don't have enough cards in your deck, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck face down.
• End of round: The round does not end when one team runs out of cards, and the other team continues to play. When both teams run out of cards, the team with the advantage scores 1 point for each of their balls that is in a section closer or equally distant from the jack than the nearest ball(s) to the jack of the opposing team.

The scoring diagram labels the sections relative to the jack: Jack's section +2, Jack's section +1, Jack's section, Jack's section -1. Example: the iron team and the copper team have played all their cards. As the copper team has the advantage, they score 1 (Jack's section) + 2 (Jack +1) + 1 (Jack -1) = 4 points. Their ball in the section (Jack +2) does not score any points, as there are balls of the opposing team in sections closer to the jack.

If the round ends because the jack should be placed outside the board due to a collision, the team that has dropped the jack removes all their balls from the board. The other team then scores 1 point for each ball they have on the board, and 1 point for each unplayed card they have left.

Gameplay Reminder

Goal: The first team to win 2 rounds wins.

Round Set Up

1. Balls: Deal balls, and cards (according to the number of players).
2. Cards: Deal cards according to the number of players on the team.
3. Initiative: Decide who opens the way.
4. Open way: The player plays a card to set up the jack.
5. Plan: The others place a card face down on their deck.

Turn: Play the necessary series of turns until you get the advantage, then the disadvantaged team takes the turn. Each turn:

• A. Choose a team member to shoot.
• B. That team member shoots the ball:
  1. Plays a card from their hand into their team's discard pile, face up.
  2. They place one of their balls in the corresponding section of the board.
  3. They choose a die, roll it, apply its effect (white die: upward, black die: downward) deciding whether they want to collide with other balls/jack or not.
• C. Check whether your team has now the advantage. If not, repeat steps A, B and C until your team gets it.
• D. Once you have the advantage, move the pawn on the ball that has the advantage, and the other team takes turn.

End of the round when:

• The disadvantaged team has no cards to play. The team with the advantage then wins this round, scores 1 point and discards their remaining cards.