A FIPJP pétanque terrain is a minimum of 15 m (49 ft 3 in) long and 4 m (13 ft 1 in) wide for National Championships and International Competitions, and no smaller than 12 by 3 m for any other sanctioned play. The throwing circle is 35 to 50 cm across and must sit more than 1 m from any obstacle. The jack is thrown 6 to 10 m from the circle’s inner edge, at least 50 cm from any obstacle or the end line. Since the FIPJP’s 2020 rule revision, it needs no minimum distance from a side line at all.
Court diagram
Full terrain dimensions
Every figure below comes from the FIPJP’s own Official Rules for the Sport of Pétanque, the edition approved in December 2020 and effective from 1 January 2021. It’s still current, with no amendments adopted for 2026. Pétanque has only one global governing body, so there are no competing rule sets to compare, as there are in basketball or football.
| Measurement | Figure | Applies to | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surface for informal play | Any surface; no fixed or marked terrain required | Casual and club play | Official rule |
| Terrain length, National / International | 15 m (49 ft 3 in), minimum | National Championships, International Competitions | Official rule |
| Terrain width, National / International | 4 m (13 ft 1 in), minimum | National Championships, International Competitions | Official rule |
| Terrain length, absolute floor | 12 m (39 ft 4 in) | Other competitions | Official rule |
| Terrain width, absolute floor | 3 m (9 ft 10 in) | Other competitions | Official rule |
| Throwing circle, drawn | 35–50 cm (13.8–19.7 in) diameter | All competitions | Official rule |
| Throwing circle, rigid template | 50 cm ± 2 mm (19.7 in ± 0.08 in) | All competitions | Official rule |
| Circle, clearance from any obstacle | 1 m (3 ft 3 in), minimum | All competitions | Official rule |
| Circle-to-circle / jack-in-use spacing | 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in), minimum | Between simultaneous games | Official rule |
| Jack distance from the circle, Juniors/Seniors | 6–10 m (19 ft 8 in to 32 ft 10 in) | Juniors and Seniors | Official rule |
| Jack, clearance from an obstacle or the end line | 50 cm (1 ft 8 in), minimum | All competitions | Official rule |
| Jack, clearance from a side line | None required | All competitions, since 2020 | Official rule |
A sport with no fixed court
Every other sport on this site starts from a fixed, painted court. Pétanque doesn’t. Article 5 of the FIPJP rules opens with: “Pétanque is played on any surface.” A dimensioned, bounded terrain (the 15 by 4 m minimum this page is built around) is only required “by the decision of the organising committee or an umpire,” which in practice means a competition format calls for one. Club and casual pétanque is played on open gravel, packed dirt, sand or grass, with no lines at all beyond whatever the throwing circle imprints for that end. That’s also why this page draws the terrain as the edge of a playing surface rather than a painted boundary line: the rules fix a minimum footprint, not a line width or a construction method for the edge itself.
The throwing circle
Two constructions are legal. A circle drawn on the ground (with a stick, a piece of chalk, or a template lifted away) must measure between 35 and 50 cm across. A rigid, prefabricated circle is fixed at 50 cm internal diameter, with a manufacturing tolerance of ± 2 mm. That is the only figure in the sport’s rules stated as a tolerance rather than a range. Either way, a player’s feet must sit entirely inside it without touching the perimeter, and can’t leave the ground or the circle until a thrown boule lands.
Placement has two rules of its own: the circle needs to be drawn or placed more than 1 m from any obstacle, and at least 1.5 m from another throwing circle or jack already in use. That second figure applies to two games running side by side rather than to a distance within a single lane; it keeps one team’s follow-through clear of the next lane’s players.
The jack’s legal range
For Juniors and Seniors, a thrown jack has to land between 6 and 10 m from the circle’s interior edge. It’s a range rather than a fixed distance, so the diagrams on this page draw it as a band instead of a single mark. The FIPJP rules note that “for competitions intended for younger players, shorter distances may be applied,” but the document doesn’t publish the shorter figures itself, so none is given here.
The jack also needs at least 50 cm of clearance from any obstacle and from the end line, the short side of the lane. What it no longer needs, since the FIPJP’s rule revision approved in December 2020, is any clearance from a side line at all: a jack that lands on or straddles a side line is legal, as long as it’s still touching the ground of the assigned lane. Several older English rules pages still describe the pre-2020 requirement. That may explain it if a figure elsewhere on the web doesn’t match this page.
Overhead plan
The same surface seen from straight above, drawn to scale. Nothing is foreshortened here, so every figure can be read off the drawing the way a tape measure would take it.
Detail sheet
A rule book fixes more than the shape of the surface, and the rest of it is too small to draw at court scale: a mark a few centimeters long, a post standing a meter off the sideline, the clearance around the whole thing. Each one here has its own frame and its own scale.
Frequently asked questions
What are the official dimensions of a pétanque court?
For National Championships and International Competitions, FIPJP Article 5 sets a minimum of 15 m long by 4 m wide (49 ft 3 in by 13 ft 1 in). That figure is a lower limit rather than a fixed size, so a terrain can legally be larger. Other sanctioned competitions may use a smaller terrain, but never below 12 by 3 m.
Do you need a marked court to play pétanque at all?
No. Article 5 says that pétanque “is played on any surface,” and a fixed, dimensioned terrain is only required when a competition’s organizers or an umpire calls for one. Most club and backyard play happens on open gravel, dirt or sand with no lines at all.
How big is the throwing circle?
35 to 50 cm across if it’s drawn on the ground, or a fixed 50 cm (± 2 mm) if it’s a rigid template. Either way, it has to sit more than 1 m from any obstacle and at least 1.5 m from another circle or jack already in play.
How far away can you throw the jack?
Between 6 and 10 m from the interior edge of the circle, for Juniors and Seniors. It also needs to land at least 50 cm from any obstacle and from the end line of the lane. Since 2020, though, no minimum distance applies from a side line.
Is “boules” the same as pétanque?
“Boules” is the general French word for the wider family of throwing games pétanque belongs to, and English speakers sometimes use it loosely for pétanque itself. It’s a different sport from bocce, the Italian throwing game played on a long, walled alley with its own separate rules and court. The two are often confused online, but they aren’t interchangeable.
Official sources
- Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal, Official Rules for the Sport of Pétanque, approved December 2020, effective 1 January 2021, Articles 5-7.
Checked against that document on 10 September 2026. How each figure is labeled as a rule or a guideline is set out on the methodology page; report an error through corrections.