Hey Pete, how's it going? Glad to hear you're feeling well & enjoying tossing the bocci balls around. (Sounds like you'll have to work on your game to keep up with David though). Anyway, I took your advice and am playing hooky from work so I thought I'd write you some bocci stories, or 'The Bocci Memoirs', if you will. First let me tell you about the family balls (yeah, that sounds stupid but you know what I mean). My father tells me that he and some of my uncles pooled their money and bought the set way back when. Our families would get together every Sunday in the summer for a picnic at the lake. There were card games, Jarts (now there's a good idea for a game), catch, etc. but bocci was the game of choice. The balls made the rounds among my father & uncles but every Sunday, whoever had them would make sure they made it to the family picnic. Now of course these balls were one of the best sets available. As you know personally, they're made from the good stuff (whatever that is) and are quite heavy. A far cry from the plastic "bocci" sets you see some people using. I estimate the balls are about 40+ years old and they sure look it. They are chipped, scratched and gouged and any scoring patterns are barely visible. They have been rolled, dropped, skidded and slammed into almost every surface on the planet including dirt, sand, pavement, cement, foundations, lawns, and a birdbath. I even watched as one of my cousins 'botched' one into the side of his above ground pool. (The ball & pool survived but there was a nice dent left in the pool wall). All in all, the balls are well worn but this only adds character to them and using them is like putting on a favorite pair of old, worn jeans. I would much rather play with them than a new set so don't be too concerned about scratching up yours. They only get better. One more thing is the care of the balls. About the only care of the ball set was the "DO NOT LOSE THEM!" rule. Whoever was in custody of the ball set at any given time would abide by this unspoken rule, lest be disowned by the entire family. As an example, you may or may not remember, one day way back when; we were all playing bocci at Jodi's house. One of the balls flew into the woods & rolled down a hill. I was in a panic it would be lost so we all searched until dark. Since it was almost too dark to see anymore someone suggested we wait until the next day to resume the search but I wouldn't give up. Luckily I stumbled across the ball before it was pitch black. I knew better than to go home without the full set of bocci balls. (I'm sorry you had to learn about the "DO NOT LOSE THEM!" rule the hard way). Our bocci set is kept in a 5 gal. Plastic bucket and when we're through playing, every one drops the balls back into the bucket and someone counts as they go in. We make sure it's 8 every time (plus the pauline of course) and this ritual has been done since I can remember. There is also a small tape measure kept in the pail for the close calls. Now for the game. I guess you could say I grew up with bocci since it was played at every outdoor family gathering, from birthdays, graduations etc. to the aforementioned picnics. It was at the picnics that I first remember seeing the game played. My cousins and I were too young to play but we would follow our fathers & uncles up & down the dirt road as they tossed the balls & yelled in satisfaction or moaned in disappointment of their shot. After we became older we were allowed to play and quickly learned the game. We would make up teams of 4 and play all day, the winners taking on the next idle team. Teams were always picked in the following fashion: All 8 players would pick any color ball and someone would toss the pauline. The players would then toss their balls one at a time towards the target remembering exactly which ball was theirs. When all the balls had been thrown, the two teams would consist of the four closest and four farthest balls. I don't know if this is some official bocci rule but it was always and still done whenever we play. The scoring of our games was always the same too. A short game could be played up to 11 but the preferred game score was 21. If one team scored 11 before the other team had any points, then the game was called a shutout and was over, the team with 11 winning of course. The one exception to the scoring rules was if the game had to end prematurely, such as a rain out. Then you could declare the higher scoring team the winner or elect to continue where you left off before the interruption. Again, I don't know if these are official rules, but they are 'official' for my family. So like I said, at every family party during every summer for years, we would play bocci. Eventually I became old enough and responsible enough (yeah, right) to be allowed to 'borrow' the bocci balls to take to my friends parties. (Of course I always had the "DO NOT LOSE THEM!" rule floating in my brain the whole time). It was probably around this time that we met & you were hooked for life. You're welcome! Next we have the playing surfaces. We've played just about everywhere. Dirt roads, beaches, lawns, weeds, pavement and even in water (shallow, of course). Wherever the pauline lands is where it's played unless it totally ridiculous like in someone's lap or the edge of a cliff. . Dirt roads are on of my favorites as well as lawns. Beaches are fun too but you have to be pretty accurate with your throws. I have played on bocci courts before but actually prefer playing in the open. Lastly we have the shots. There's the basic 'roll' which is good on harder surfaces once you calculate how hard or soft to roll it. Then there's the 'roll with english', which if your good you can actually steer the ball to some extent. On softer surfaces like lawns you can toss the ball into the air and when it hits it usually won't roll too much. A favorite of mine it the 'high toss with backspin'. This shot usually stops where it drops and is useful on soft lawns and beaches, but you have to be very accurate for it to be effective. One more would be the 'botch it out' shot where you fling the ball underhanded like a softball but low to the ground. The idea is to hit one or more other balls and knock them out of play. This shot can be highly effective or equally devastating to your teams score. My cousin who hit the pool is pretty good with this type of shot, though not always. Just ask the pool. Hard-core bocci players might agree with or balk at some or all of this but it doesn't matter. This is the way I learned and like to play bocci. That's the beauty for friendly, casual games. You can play it like you want. Feel fee to use any, all or none of this on your web page. (If you do use any, I'll send a bill for royalties later). Well, that's about it. I you'd like anymore info just yell. I'd be glad to help if I can. Happy bocci, Paul