Google has a wonderful new multiplayer Doodle that allows you to play a game of petanque online. If you’ve never heard of boules – I hadn’t before writing this article – it’s a game similar to boules.
The object of bocce is to throw your ball (the bocce) as close as possible to a ball (the cochonnet) on the playing field in front of you. On your computer, “throw” the ball by clicking on the boule and dragging your mouse back to swing it forward; on a phone, you throw the boule with your thumb (kind of like throwing a Poké Ball in it pokemon go). You get points if you have more boules near the cochonnet than your opponent, and whoever has the most points after three rounds wins. Google has a good tutorial of the game that will show you when you first start playing.
You can play one-on-one or in teams of two by sharing a link or randomly matching with online opponents. If you just want to practice, Google offers that as an option too, and I recommend you spend some time testing things out if you’re playing on your phone. I was consistently more accurate on my computer than on my phone – something didn’t quite click with me when I was tossing my thumb instead of a mouse.
If you haven’t seen it on Google today, here’s a GIF of the Doodle itself, featuring the cute olives that appear in-game.
Google launched its first multiplayer Doodle to celebrate Halloween in 2018 and released another in 2019 to celebrate the mexican card game loteria. And the company has made many other Doodle games in the past that are still nice to see you back – including my personal favorite, the Pac-Man one from 2010.