When it comes to playing bocce ball, not all courts are created equal.

There’s a wide variety of courts available, from fixed set ups at community facilities through to highly portable inflatable courts that can be taken with you and pumped up in minutes.

This bocce ball court guide answers common questions about bocce court dimensions, construction materials and surfaces, and how to find a court or league near you.

Read on to take your bocce game and knowledge to the next level.

The ancient sport of bocce has undergone a resurgence in some parts of the world, helped in part by the invention of a new portable court that lets players take the game with them wherever they go.

Traditional bocce courts are made of wood or stone and can be 8-14 feet wide and 60-100 feet long. These are the kinds of courts that were used in town squares and courtyards during the days of the Ancient Roman empire.

They look good and work fine, but they are far from portable. They certainly can’t be packed up and taken to communities and locations crying out for new and accessible recreational opportunities.

Bocce courts featuring a revolutionary inflatable design were centre stage at the USA’s largest Special Olympics state games in Florida over the weekend.

Developed by Packaworld International, the inflatable Packabocce courts feature a lightweight but highly durable design that makes them far more portable than traditional bocce ball courts made out of wood or stone.

More than 5,000 athletes, coaches, volunteers and family members took part in the Special Olympics Florida State Summer Games, hosted at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World, Orlando.

Hundreds more American Special Olympics athletes will soon be bowling their way to bocce bliss following a decision by Special Olympics Florida to purchase 28 new portable playing courts to help grow the game across the state.

Special Olympics Florida Vice President – Operations Akin Joseph said the courts, which arrived last month, had been impressive at their debut at the Area 8 Summer Games in Tampa.

Inflatable ‘Packabocce’ courts, first developed in 2013 by Packaworld International, feature a lightweight but highly durable design that makes them far more portable than traditional bocce courts made out of wood or stone.

The nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines may be home to just 100,000 people, but that isn’t stopping it from sending a bocce team to the United Arab Emirates to compete at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi.

In 2015, the tiny Caribbean nation returned to the World Summer Games in Los Angeles after a 10-year absence to win silver in the sport of bocce. This time, they are out for gold with the support of portable bocce courts from Packaworld International.

Special Olympics Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has purchased competition and recreation-sized ‘Packabocce’ courts to aid their bocce team’s training efforts for the World Summer Games and help them increase participation in the sport of bocce across the nation’s nine inhabited islands.

The number of athletes playing bocce at the 2017 Special Olympics New Zealand National Summer Games has increased by 28 per cent since the previous event – and inflatable courts from Packaworld International have been a driving force behind rising participation.

The National Summer Games bocce tournament was played at the Hutt Indoor Sports Centre from 27-30 November 2017 using inflatable ‘Packabocce’ courts, which first transformed the way bocce is played in New Zealand in 2013.
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Special Olympics Regional Sports Coordinator Jayden Richards said the event had gone fantastically well, and was closely contested between athletes from 10 New Zealand clubs. 

The sport of bocce appeared alongside superstars such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers and Jay-Z at the Austin City Limits Music Festival last month.

The annual music festival in Austin, Texas is a celebration of music over two consecutive weekends, and draws a crowd of nearly 500,000 music lovers each year. The inclusion of bocce outside the wine lounge and inside the artists’ area provided hundreds of festival-goers and musicians with the opportunity to enjoy a game of bocce between acts.

​“The courts added a whole new dimension to the festival,” said Peter Norris, the Austin Territory Manager for the American Bocce Company.

Wellington’s Village at the Park has become one of the first lifestyle villages in New Zealand to offer bocce after the ancient Italian sport graced its halls during Seniors’ Week.

​An introductory ‘have a go’ session was run by Packaworld International CEO Peter Roberts, who showcased bocce to a group of intrigued residents using one of Packaworld’s world-first inflatable mini bocce courts.

​Bocce is an ideal sport for people of all ages and abilities because it relies on skill rather than athleticism. The game shares a common heritage with bowls and petanque, but is played in a court with walls. This allows different strategies such as rebound plays.