The Tucson Petanque Club is an informal group of Tucson residents and winter visitors. We use this web site to co-ordinate times and places to play, but we don’t keep a membership list. To join us, simply come out and play with us. If you wish, you can sign up for email notifications of our events (see below) or follow our Facebook page.
- We play at the Reid Park bandshell terrain at 2 pm on Sunday afternoon.
- Reid Park is big, so you need precise directions in order to be able to find us.
- Be sure you also know the way to the alternate parking area.
- Visitors and beginners welcome.
- If you have boules, bring ’em. If you don’t, we have guest boules.
- If you’d just like to watch, that’s fine. We have lawn chairs.
- Bring a bottle of water. It’s easy to get dehydrated in Tucson.
- We recommend that you leave your purse and other valuables in the car. We’ve never had any problems, but you’ll be able to concentrate better on the game if you’re not worrying about something else.
Legal stuff
- Note that consumption of wine or liquor is prohibited in Tucson city parks.
- Note that TPC does not exist as a legal entity and our meetings are not covered by event liability insurance. Participate at your own risk.
Our normal schedule
We select teams and start promptly, very shortly after 2pm. We try to accommodate players that arrive late, but late arrivals make team-organization more difficult, so it is better to be a little early than a little late.
Players stay as long as they like and are free to leave at any time. We play as long as people want to continue to play. Usually some players must leave around 4:00pm. Others have the time and inclination to play until 4:30 or 5:00.
If nobody shows up, we pack up the guest boules and go home at 2:30. If you definitely want to play, but cannot arrive until after 2pm, please contact us (see below).
Want to play at some other day, time, location?
Contact us (see below).
How to contact us
To contact us send us a message in a comment. Your message will be forwarded to us and we will be able to reply to you via email. Or send email to—
For last-minute questions, directions, cancellations, and weather reports, or just to speak to a live human person, here is our telephone contact information.
How to get email notifications of upcoming events
If you sign up for email notifications, whenever news of an event (or cancellation) is posted here, the post will be sent to you in an email message. The email messages contain an “unsubscribe” link, so you can unsubscribe whenever you wish. To subscribe, look to the upper right side of this web page and find the Follow Blog via Email heading. Beneath it, you will see Join ## other followers.
(1) Enter your email address (unless you are already signed into WordPress).
(2) Click the Follow button.
You can also follow our Facebook page.
Never played before?
If you would like to learn, or just try, petanque, come down and join us. We’ll give you a free five-minute lesson and you’ll be good to go. You don’t need to be especially “athletic” to play petanque. If you can swing an arm, you can play and enjoy petanque. Petanque is a game of skill, not strength, and men and women can compete on an equal footing. We have kid-size guest boules for those smaller hands.
Buying a set of boules
In petanque, each player typically owns his/her own set of three boules (metal balls). We provide guest boules, but if after playing for a while you want to own your own set, you can order your own boules online. For tips on buying boules, visit the Buying Boules page. In the USA, the best source for petanque boules is the Petanque America online store.
For more information
- Petanque Portal USA has links to the most useful petanque web sites.
- All about Petanque covers general facts about the game and its traditions.
- The Rules of Petanque is a good source for the official rules.
About other petanque groups in Arizona
- Jerome/Verde Valley/Sedona area has a well-established club (Ghoules with Boules) that plays regularly in Jerome. See the American Petanque Directory.
- Tucson and Yuma have winter visitors that play during the winter months in RV parks. See the American Petanque Directory.
- Phoenix has no established group. For players in the Phoenix area, try the American Petanque Directory.
- For bocce in Tucson, try THIS or THIS.
