Per the USA Bocce Federation ( USBF ) and the International governing body for Bocce  ( CIB ) the only sizes per their rules ( except Volo see below ) that are allowed for competition play are 107mm balls for men or 106mm balls for women.

So the ONLY correct sizes are

• 107mm for men
• 106mm for woman

Here I will explain the 4 “forms/variants/styles” of bocce

1. Volo is played with brass/bronze balls ( can vary from 90 to 110 mm ) and has very strict rules of play. It’s the style where the balls are mostly tossed down the court. In the USA it’s the least played of the 4 styles by far. Outside the USA in France, Slovenia, Switzerland, Italy, Australia its more popular. Only played on a court approx. 90 ft long with no raised sides and marked lines across the surface.
2. Raffa is played with extremely hard but resilient plastic balls. Most common style outside the USA. The rules are very formal in that a shot must be called and if balls are moved during play by mistake they are returned to their original positions. Only played on court with raised sides and marked lines across the surface.
3. Open Rules was developed in the USA to “speed up the game” and to make it simpler to play. Based on Raffa style above and with the same extremely hard but resilient plastic balls. It’s the most popular style in the USA where a court is used.  There is a USA National Championship for Open Rules and regular competitions around the USA at the various Bocce clubs. Courts vary in length up to 87 ft with a typical length of 70 ft, but 6o ft ( the width of a typical back yard ) is a reasonable minimum for recreational play on a backyard court. Only ever played on a court with raised sides marked lines across the surface. Balls can be and are often banked off the sides during play.
4. Lastly is the game that is not played on a court but in an open area, which is often grass or sand at the beach. Most in the USA refer to this as “Bocce Ball” or Botchy, bocci, ultimate bocce, beach bocce etc Because there is no court so most of the rules for the styles above can’t apply you are actually playing Petanque (the French cousin of Bocce ) but that’s for another blog.

Now to the second part of the question.

Does it matter? You bet if you want to play at national and international level of bocce. But let’s face it, of the estimated 1,000,000 sets of bocce balls that are in the USA 99.9% of those balls never see a court. Court you say, “I thought bocce was just played on the grass or at the beach”. Well that’s what most people think. So if you are one of those and are never going to play on a court and are never going to play in any formal competition, then the ball size doesn’t matter. You fall in to category 4 above.

Hold on!! But that means if I want to play, say, football ( no not the US invention that uses a ball like a rugby ball but with totally different rules ) ,  the one otherwise known of as soccer. And I play at the beach with friends I can choose any size ball I want?? Sure, you probably don’t have goal posts, a goal net, marked sidelines, line judges, a referee or even 11 players per side, so why should the ball size, weight or material be the same as a regulation soccer ball?? Why because if it wasn’t you wouldn’t really want to play. The rest of the “stuff” of play can be omitted and even the rules simplified to suit the day but the ball, it has to be the real thing.  Otherwise it’s little more than “kick the can”

Stick ball is NOT baseball, Baseball is NOT Softball but the game play is all very similar. One player holds a long round shaft and tries to hit a ball thrown by another player, as far as they can, then runs a distance to and fro to get points …….. But every person in the USA knows what the equipment is for those more mainstream US games. And if you tried to introduce one piece of equipment from say stick ball into softball, no one would be fooled.  But with Bocce there is so much misinformation that few really have a clue about what a bocce ball size should be or what it’s made of.

For kids water filled balls are fine just as a plastic bat and a wiffle ball are fine if they are playing “baseball”.

For kids 80mm and 100mm balls made of soft plastic or even the Chinese balls made from cue ball material are also fine for the back yard, beach, etc.

But please copywriters, stop calling those sets deluxe, competition, tournament just because ( as noted above ) much of the US buying public doesn’t know the truth so can’t call you on it.The image below, the balls are 100mm dia but they never state that even in the complete description!!!
Also balls that are 109, 110, 113 and even 115 mm are NOT tournament,  regulation, certified, competition etc., balls. They are just balls brought into the USA by the big name trading houses of sporting goods that just don’t know any better. Most if not all of those products come from China. Everyone likes a deal. Most of us want to trust what we read and want to believe that the descriptions for products are truthful. We also want to know that important information is NOT left out.

A Louisville slugger is NOT made out of pine, it’s White Ash. If it were it certainly  “should be” a lot cheaper than the real thing. Why? Because pine is cheap, in plentiful supply, easy to turn to shape, doesn’t wear out the manufacturing tooling as fast etc. And it definitely would look the part on the shelf in a store or as a photo on an eCommerce website. Especially if it was called tournament, professional, competition or even deluxe.

Sadly that is a fact of life with Bocce balls sold in the USA. They are mostly made from cheap materials, so they don’t last, crack easily, don’t roll true, turn whitish once the skin is knocked off and often retails at an inflated price. But who’s to know better??

You got this far, now YOU do.

Have a look at this link to see more about ball materials and what to avoid.

http://www.playaboule.com/bocce-ball-set-reviews.aspx

Note: This is Copyright material. Sure you can link to it and upon written approval we might let you use the wording. But please don’t just copy it.

Synthetic court construction

Leveling the sub surface

Pouring the final synthetic surface

A reference site for this special surface material is.

Colleoni Srl. http://www.colleonibocce.com/?lang=en

Mantoflex http://www.mantoflex.it/TEST/resine_systembocce.htm

And for companies that have proven skills in laying these surfaces here are a few.

Mallozzi http://www.mallozzimario.it/

Olympia Costruzioni http://www.olimpiacostruzioni.it/

I.S.G. http://isgsport.com/vetrina/index.php?cat=13

Cocconi http://www.cocconi.it/home.html

Aurelio Colleoni http://aureliocolleoni.com/eng/home.html
( This company has made several courts in the USA including Campo di Bocce & Pallazzo di Bocce )

Centro Italia Sports http://www.centroitaliasport.it/home.htm
http://www.centroitaliasport.it/bocce.htm#

Detailed court construction ( in Italian )

http://www.archweb.it/dwg/sport_giochi/bocce/bocce_2d.htm
and Surface
http://www.archweb.it/dwg/sport_giochi/bocce/bocce_costruz.htm

Perfetta is the most well known and arguably the most respected manufacturer in Italy. they have been the official supplier to the biggest bocce tournament in the world the World Bocce Championships.

www.perfetta.it Distributed in the USA by Playaboule – www.playaboule.com

Super Martel is another good manufacturer and happens to be just a few miles away from Perfetta in the same small town East of Bologna and south of Venice.

iXsport – Salf is also based in Berra close to Perfetta and Super Martel (Update 12 Feb 2010: Apparently Salf is no longer in business )

Unibloc makes the brass balls for the Volo style of bocce play

Cast is no longer in the business of making bocce balls. Apparently they are focusing on their core products pipe valves and such.

Londero makes a compressed wood bocce ball and a plastic set. Both are great for beach or for kids to play with.

www.playaboule.com

1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 102
Seattle WA 98134

Ph 888-225-2865
Email sales@playaboule.com

- Brands: Perfetta and Playaboule

-Playaboule has been importing bocce and petanque products since the mid 90′s. They have exclusive contracts to supply Perfetta products from the pre-eminent bocce manufacturer in Italy. Their own bocce and petanque products made in China. And a new series of products that have high brightness LED’s that screw into the translucent plastic balls.

Park n Sun

www.parksun.com

2150 South Tejon Street
Englewood, CO 80110

Brands: Park n Sun – Bocce ( made in China )

Sportcraft

www.sportcraft.com

313 Waterloo Valley Road
Budd Lake, NJ 07828 USA

Brands: Eddie Bauer – Easton -Parkside – Sportcraft ( made in China )

Regent Sports

www.regent-halex.com

45 Ranick Rd.
Hauppauge, NY 11788

Brands: Spalding – Halex ( made in China )

CLASSIC SPORT COMPANIES INC.

Purchased by Sportcraft in July 2009

www.classicsport.com

5151 Bannock St. Suite D,
Denver, CO 80216

Brands: Classic Sports – Easton ( made in China )

Franklin Sports Inc.

www.franklinsports.com

17 Campanelli Parkway
Stoughton, MA 02072

Brands: Franklin ( some of the plastic sets from Londero in Italy the others from China )

The other suppliers with brands and products seen in general sports stores and online are distributors only and import balls mostly from China. A followup post will list those companies.

EPCO — E. Parrella Company, Inc.

36 Alder St
Medway, MA 02053

www.epcomfg.com

- EPCO emphasizes the manufacture of Bowling Balls. But has other product lines, billiard and pool balls and gear stick knobs and also bocce balls. Material used is called Partek. They are known for their Glow in the dark sets but these require a black light to get the effect.

These products are distributed by Paramount Industries – that has the same address as EPCO.
www.paramountindustriesinc.com

St. Pierre Manufacturing Corporation

317 East Mountain Street
Worcester, MA 01606

www.stpierreusa.com

- StPierre is today the largest manufacturer of Pitching Horseshoes in the world. They also make a single line of bocce balls.

PERFETTA
di ANDREA VARZELLA & C. snc
44033 Berra (FE)
18, v. Dell’ Artigianato

Cerca nella mappa – Parti da qui – Arriva qui