The season starts THIS WEEK! So whether you are new to the league, or just need a refresher on how we play, here is your place for some quick info.
How to play in 5 easy steps (skip if you already know how to play):
1) Flip a coin (or agree on another way to choose who shoots first)
2) The team who gets the first shot also gets to place the starting box (usually referred to as “the box” or sometimes “the mat”) and gets to throw the pallino. The person who throws the pallino has to throw the first ball (must have one foot touching the starting box).
3) From that point on whichever team is farthest from the pallino shoots. Players must alternate shots.
4) Only one team can score per round. However many balls they have closer than the opposing team’s closest ball is how man points they earn (will be between 1-4).
5) Continue with this process until one team reaches 11 (and wins by 2).
Turbo Bocce Stats (skip if you know how to keep score):
We keep five individual stats in Turbo Bocce. Here is what our scorecard looks like.
Its actually pretty easy.
Points: This one is fairly self explanatory, if you score a point give yourself credit.
Bocces: This is the most controversial. A bocce occurs when you (1) better your team’s position by (2) knocking another ball with your ball. Lets get into a little more detail here. You better your team’s position by changing who is in position to score. If the opposing team was in for a point and now your team is, you are in better position. But you also get credit for a bocce if you knock the opposing team down from two points to one point, or knock your own team up from one point to two etc. Finally, the key aspect of a bocce is to knock a ball with your ball. The simplest explanation is that incidental contact will not give you a bocce; it has to be a meaningful collision with another ball. Which ball does not matter. You can knock one of your own balls up into scoring position, knock the opposing team’s ball out of scoring position, or knock the pallino in a way that helps your team. Those are all bocces. Just don’t give yourself a bocce because your ball gently grazed up against another ball, or made contact with another ball in a way that didn’t help you at all.
Debocces: The dreaded debocce. We keep it as a stat but you don’t want them. A debocce is the Turbo Bocce version of an error. It occurs when you accidentally knock your team out of scoring position with your ball. Like with a bocce this can happen by knocking into any of the balls in play. The important thing is that you hurt your team by taking away a point.
Ace: When the ball you throw is touching the pallino you get an ace. You make this stat immediately after you throw, not at the end of the round. You cannot be knocked into or out of an ace.
Turbo Round Win: One question asked a lot is, why do they call it Turbo Bocce? Turbo Bocce is named after the Turbo Round, a sudden death shoot off we use to settle disputes. At Turbo Bocce we don’t believe in measuring to see which ball is closer. Why? Because if you open that door you spend more time measuring then you do playing, and that’s not any fun. So we have a 3 step foolproof plan for settling disputes where you can’t easily tell which ball is closer.
Step 1 – Can both teams agree to re-throw the balls in a sudden death Turbo Round where the winner gets the point?
Step 2 – If not, call over an official. Who are the officials? Everyone in the league. Just ask someone, and they will make their best judgment. Once you call an official to make a call, their judgement is final!
Step 3- If you disagree with the call then you have the option of challenging. A challenge is when you actually measure which ball is closer with a tape measure. The catch is, if you are wrong you can’t challenge again in the three game set.
So, bottom line, a Turbo Round Win happens when you play in a Turbo Round and get the win.
Before you walk the walk, learn how to talk the talk with this Turbo Bocce dictionary:
Buzz Saw – Short answer, a buzz saw is when you win 14-0. Long asnwer, its not easy to win a game up to 11 by 14 points. The only way to do it is to be leading exactly 10-0 and then to get a 4 point round. Its only happened seven times in 11 year the history of the league, and tradition dictates that the team who gets buzz sawed buys the victorious team a shot.
B.C.S. – Stands for Bocce Championship Series, and just like the college football B.C.S. its a combination of your winning percentage and your strength of schedule. Ours is easier, more fair, and makes more sense than the football version though. Since the bocce season lasts only 10 weeks you can’t play everybody, and some teams naturally end up with more difficult schedules than others. We want to give those teams a little bit of credit, while still making winning your games the most important thing. So our formula is this: Your team’s winning percentage (times 2), plus your opponents winning percentage = your B.C.S. We rank teams for the playoffs based on their B.C.S. but every team in the league makes the playoffs.
Sanguine French – Turbo Bocce’s unofficial mascot. Look for this mysterious man to show up mysteriously during the season, while wearing a very mysterious costume.
Rookie of the Year – Every year we give out a Rookie of the Year award. The winner is the rookie who scores the most points.
Schedules, Make-Up Weeks, and Rain Policy
Turbo Bocce has no schedules. Simply come whenever is convenient for you (between 5pm and dark) and we will set you up with a game. Most people come at right about 6pm, conveniently the time when Sharkey’s 2 for 1 happy hour ends, but you can come before or after that if it suites you.
We have a 10 week season with 2 make up weeks. So if you have to miss two weeks you are still on track to finish your season. If you miss more than 2 weeks you are going to have to play two games in a night to make up, or play your game on another night. Either one of thees options is fine. If, by the end of the second make up week you haven’t played all 10 games yet, you forfeit whichever games you miss, but you still get to play in the playoffs (everybody does).
Our rain policy is, the game always go on. If you happen to want to come out and play in the rain, I promise you won’t be alone and there will be a game for you. If you don’t want to get wet that’s fine too. Just don’t show up. We have make up games for a reason!
Do you feel like a Turbo Bocce expert now? You should!
