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Pétanque

Pétanque terrain size, throwing circle and jack distance from the FIPJP Official Rules, with the full guide linked for exact figures and sources.

Governing body

A FIPJP pétanque terrain is a minimum of 15 m (49 ft) long and 4 m (13 ft) wide for national and international competitions. Unlike most sports on this site, casual play doesn’t even require one at all. Article 5 opens by saying pétanque “is played on any surface.” When a marked terrain is required, the throwing circle is 35 to 50 cm across, and the jack is thrown 6 to 10 m from it, with its own clearance rules from the boundary and from other games in progress. Every figure here comes from the FIPJP’s Official Rules, current since January 2021.

Perspective diagram of a FIPJP-minimum pétanque terrain, 15 by 4 meters, showing one throwing circle 50 centimeters across with its 1 meter obstacle clearance, and the jack's legal range of 6 to 10 meters from the circle's interior edge.
Pétanque terrain drawn to scale from FIPJP Articles 5–7. Original diagram by Playfield Atlas.

Dimensions and layouts

FIPJP Article 5 sets a 15 by 4 m minimum for national and international competition terrains, and no smaller than 12 by 3 m for anything else. Both are minimums rather than fixed sizes. Nothing about the terrain’s own boundary is painted or fixed by rule beyond its minimum footprint. The full table, the exact article citations, and the gaps in what FIPJP publishes are all in the pétanque court dimensions, markings and layout guide.

The circle and the jack

The throwing circle is 35 to 50 cm across if drawn, or a fixed 50 cm (± 2 mm) if it’s a rigid template, placed more than 1 m from any obstacle and 1.5 m from another circle or jack in use. The jack lands 6 to 10 m from the circle for Juniors and Seniors, at least 50 cm from any obstacle or the end line. Since the FIPJP’s 2020 rule revision, there has been no minimum distance from a side line.

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.

Overhead plan of a FIPJP-minimum pétanque terrain drawn to scale, showing the 15 by 4 meter terrain, the 50 centimeter throwing circle with its 1 meter obstacle clearance, and the jack's legal range of 6 to 10 meters across the full width of the lane.
The same terrain from directly above. Every figure is the one FIPJP Articles 5 to 7 publish.

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.

Detail sheet for pétanque: the 35 to 50 centimeter drawn circle compared with the 50 centimeter rigid template circle, the 1 meter clearance a circle needs from any obstacle against the 1.5 meter clearance between two circles or jacks in use at once, the jack's own 50 centimeter clearance from an obstacle or the end line, and the jack's 6 to 10 meter legal range drawn to scale.
The two legal circle sizes and every clearance FIPJP Articles 6 and 7 publish, at a scale the terrain drawing is too small to carry. Original diagram by Playfield Atlas.

Official sources

One governing body is cited on this page: the Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal, the sport’s single global authority.

These figures were checked against that document on 10 September 2026. How each one is dated and marked as a rule or a guideline is set out on the methodology page. If a number here looks wrong, report it through corrections.

Explore the playing surface

Pétanque court guides and tools

Use the verified guides below for dimensions, markings, planning details, and the history behind the playing surface.