Teams are randomly computer drawn so even if you are new you could be playing with an expert and winning a prize. Here's how it works.

- The Clubhouse opens at 12.00 for a social BYO lunch hour,

- you must have registered at the Clubhouse and paid your $5 fee by 12.45 to play on Saturdays,

- the draw for all 3 games is made at 12.50,

- the first game starts promptly at 1.00,

- the following games start around2.00 and 3.00,

- the games are over by about 4.30.

The teams are usually pairs but sometimes triples depending on numbers. Teams are randomlydrawn by a computer at the start of the afternoon for all 3 rounds. This is programmed to prevent you teaming up with the same person twice though occasionally you may play against the same person more than once. Players are encouraged to play all 3 games otherwise it upsets the draws. At the end of the day prizes of bottles of wine are awarded to both male and female winners, the numbers of prizes depending on the number of players. For Saturday games there is a fee of $5 per person to fund these prizes. Saturdays are essentially the same relaxed games within the Club as Wednesdays but usually with more players and with prizes.

Please don't be late!

To make Saturday's schedules work for everyone there are a few courtesy expectations. If you are late for registration which closes at 12.45 we can't hold up the whole afternoon's games for one person. For the same reason please don't call and say "I'm on the way, traffic is a bit heavy". The traffic may be worse than you thought and then the whole schedule gets delayed. What we can do is to manually pencil in late players after the draw but you may find you are playing triples more than once so as not to disturb the original draw.

Timed Games

Games are played to 13 points. Games start bya ring of the start bell and are timed to 45 minutes on our Saturdays, or whatever is agreed in other competitions,at which pointthe end bell will be rung.

The rules of Petanque say once the end bell has rung you finish the end you are playing, then play one more end. If that results in a draw you play one further end as a tie breaker. Confusionarises mainly from people not knowing when an end finishes. It is simple. An end finishes when the last boule has been played and all boules and the coche have stopped moving. That is the end of that end. The thing to remember is the next end is deemed to have started at the exact same time as the previous end finished. There is no time gap between one end finishing and the next end starting. 2 examples will help -

- The last boule has been thrown and all boules havenow stopped moving. That end is now over.So the next end has nowstarted. A moment later the bell goes. Even though no-one has yet thrown a boule for this new end,it had started before the bell went. So you finish this new end and play one more end (+ a tie breakerend if a draw)

- The last boule has been thrown but it hit another boule which is still moving when the bell goes. So that end hadn't finished when the bell went. So you finish that endand play one more end (+ a tie breaker end if a draw)