The playing area for petanque is considerably smaller than in other types of lawn bowling. Teams are usually made up of two or three players. Each team has six balls. Play next passes to the other team. Its turn continues either until a ball has been placed closer to the target than the opposition's ball or all the team's balls have been bowled.
Teams continue alternating turns until no balls remain.
That team gets a point for each ball that is closer to the target than any of the opposition's balls. Thus, there is a maximum of 6 points per round. A player can score by knocking an opponent's ball out of scoring position, or by moving the target with a shot, thereby placing it closer to his own team's balls. If the target is knocked out of the playing area, the round has to be re-started. However, if it's knocked out by a team's last ball, the other team gets one point for each of its remaining ball.