Boccia

Boccia is an Italian variant of the game with balls, in the 13th century the game was played throughout Europe. Boccia was made famous in Germany by Konrad Adenauer, who spent most of his holidays in Italy on the boccia track.

Boccia is a ball game on a plastic track or on a rolled sand track for 2 parties. The players try to throw the balls as close as possible to the pallino that was put into play beforehand. Furthermore, well-placed own balls are shielded or enemy balls are pushed away from a favorable position. The pallino and the balls have prescribed dimensions (see competition balls). There are precise rules and playing points for throwing the pallino and the balls, the position of the balls must be marked on the field. At the end of a game set, balls that are closer to the pallino than the opponent's balls count as points. After that, the game is played in the opposite direction.

In Germany, international rules are used. Players have different numbers of balls depending on the number of players per team. According to international rules, a game is worth up to 15 points, in Germany up to 9, 11 or 12 points.

Boccia is less common in Germany than in other countries, with German players mainly coming from southern Germany. There are about 10 clubs that hold tournaments professionally. Boccia Bund Deutschland e.V. is a member of the German Boccia, Boule and Pétanque Association.