Shooting the jack in petanque?

Shooting the jack The dangers in depth

Shoot the jack!

Scoring points in petanque can be difficult. The opposition have defended the head very well and pointing in to score can be tricky. The target area or scoring area can be minimal with a good opposition defence boule placed in front of the jack. Many teams will get frustrated working with a small scoring area and may well even knock on opposition boule to either close down the scoring area and the score or horror of horrors actually push them into a holding position so they score!  We have all done it! Our first boule is still holding even when the opposition have thrown all 6 boule at the jack. With our last boule we push in an opposition boule to either reduce our score or to give them a point. It maybe worth looking at other tactics that may stop this happening. What if you were to move the jack to an undefended area of the piste or sometimes even better move the jack into a dead area and claim the points with the boule in hand rule. I say sometimes better because it must be remembered you can only score a maximum of 4 points if you kill the jack with your first shot and it could be you could score 5 or 6 with a jack movement.

It is simple mathematics. Your 1^st boule has held all the opposition boule. You shoot and kill the jack with your first shot and you score 4 with the boule left in your hand. You would be amazed how many players forget that shooting the jack can reduce your potential points tally. Even if you move the jack out into space it is highly unlikely your first point will count in the final score of the end as it sits there guarded by all the other opposition boule in a game no longer relevant to the score in the end.