Miscellaneous

Sand Dune Bocce

By Chris Stevenson

Believe it or not, this is the most fun activity on Earth.  Okay, second most.  Okay, third most if you don't mind the negative side effects of cocaine.  Anyway, as far as I know, this game does not officially exist and is only played in one place on the planet - in and around Port O'Connor, Texas.

Bocce is actually an ancient game that originated in Italy.  It is played on a flat court and resembles bowling.  There are 8 balls about 4 inches in diameter and a smaller ball about an inch and a half in diameter.  The basic premise to that each player or team is attempting to get their larger balls closest to the smaller ball to score points.  It is unclear how sand dune bocce came into being.  The godfather of the game might well be Tom Tyng, but the true origins of the game are sketchy.  The commonly accepted theory is that a more traditional form of the game was played on the beach and then modified by later generations of players.  The game was probably invented sometime in the mid-90's. 

Sand dune bocce differs from regular bocce in almost every way except for the equipment.  In sand dune bocce there are 4 sets of colored balls - usually red, blue, green and yellow - plus a small white ball, called the "jack" in regular bocce and the "melon" in sand dune bocce.  The basic premise is the same except that the "court" is an area of beach and sand dunes.  The scoring is pretty simple - the closest balls of one team score one point each.  So the maximum number of points per round is 4.  That is, if one team's four balls are closer to the melon than any of the other team's balls, then four points are awarded.  We play to 21, but those games can get pretty long.  Playing to 11 or 15 is probably better, especially if playing with women who don't understand the game and get impatient with it.  The only other rule is that you have to play while holding an alcoholic beverage, preferably beer, in the non-throwing hand.  The smoking of cigarettes or cigars is also encouraged while playing.

The true beauty of sand dune bocce lies in the terrain and location.  For one, you are on the beach.  And if you are on Sunday beach on Matagorda Island you can see the Gulf of Mexico on one side and Matagorda Bay on the other, especially if you are standing atop a tall dune.  You can also see the interior grassland and inland dunes of the island itself, with the lighthouse in the distance.  This is a fine sight, especially with a beer buzz.  The finer points of the game have to do with recognizing the type of sand you are throwing into.  There is very fine white wind-driven sand, hard flat wet sand and forgiving soft wet sand.  There are also the dunes themselves, which are of varying heights and contours.  Some have ledges or flat tops; some have vegetation on them that can impede the rolling of the balls.  So, each round is different.

The game starts with four people, two to a team.  One person is selected at random to toss the melon for the first time.  Whoever tosses the melon has absolute discretion where to toss it, but input from the other players is common and there is an unwritten rule to throw back toward the ice chests when running low on beer.  The person who chunked the melon goes first, then a player from the opposite team and so on until all eight balls have been thrown.  Another twist is that it is possible to knock the balls out of the way to remove scoring balls or to move your teammate's balls closer to the melon.

Accuracy of throw is the greatest mark of skill, but being able to read the sand and predict the action of the ball after impact is also important.  Changing the arc of the throw is the most important initial skill to master.  For softer sand, you can often get the ball the stick where it lands if you get high enough trajectory.  Lower arcs or a bowling type toss are better used for distance over flat hard sand.

Probably more important the the location and the game itself are the players.  Best to have friends whose company you enjoy.  One of the greatest things, though, is when you get an unknown element in the mix and bond with them through the game.  In any event, it is very hard not to enjoy no matter who the players are.  And if not, drink until it is enjoyable.

Full post as published by Cursed With Ambition on May 28, 2008 (boomark / email).