bocce ball

I went to a birthday party a few weeks ago that took place at Campo di Bocce, in Los Gatos. We played bocce ball.

I'd never played before, but the rules were pretty simple to pick up, and it turned out to be pretty fun. Basically, there are two teams of players. Each team has an equal number of colored balls (ours were red and green), and then there is a small silver ball called a pallino. One team rolls the pallino (it has to go a minimum distance) and then follows it with one of their colored balls. Then, the other team rolls one of their colored balls. From then on, the team who does not own the ball closest to the pallino keeps rolling, until they manage to get closest to the pallino. At the end of the round, the team who has the ball closest to the pallino scores. They score one point for every ball which is closer to the pallino than the other team's closest ball.

We played maybe five or six rounds in an hour and a half, in teams of three or four, on two courts (fields?), while munching on appetizers. I think bocce is a good activity for a birthday party, especially with a large group; there's a lot of downtime, so people have time to hang out and chat.