Visit the American Petanque web site for files for making handouts.
Over the years many individuals and clubs have developed shortened or simplified versions of the rules. These summaries are frequently copied, modified, and re-posted on the web, so it is impossible to be sure of the original source of any of these documents. These files are in .pdf format unless otherwise specified.
- Simple rules of petanque from the Seattle Petanque Club
- Simplified rules of petanque by Stephen Ferg based on an original by the Epping Petanque Club (also in .odt format)
- Basic rules of petanque by Mike Pegg is 3 pages with big pictures.
If you google “petanque rules”, most of the links that are returned will be to rules summaries created by various clubs or equipment vendors.
The Rules of Petanque 
How do you score points?
A mene (round, end) is finished when both teams have played all of their boules or the jack is dead. After the end of a mene, the teams agree on which team (if any) won the mene and how many points it scored. This activity is called the agreement of points.
If the jack is alive and one of the teams has the point, then the team that has the point wins the mene and scores as many points as it has boules that are closer to the jack than the opposing team’s closest boule.
You can find the full explanation at the link below. Petanque Libre explains the agreement of points better than the official (FIPJP) rules do.
Pétanque Libre is very clear and thorough, but unless I am mistaken PL is not “official” Can you link to where the official rules define how points are counted and how holding the point, closest boule, or boule-to-jack separation is defined? Thanks.
PL is most definitely NOT “official”. It is specifically designed to be, among other things, clearer than the FIPJP rules.
An easy way to consult the current (2020) FIPJP rules is at
Since it is a webpage, you can use your browser’s FIND function to search for specific terms like “the point”, “score”, etc.
As incredible as it may seem, none of the topics that you are asking about are described in the written FIPJP rules. They are all a matter of oral tradition.
The closest that the FIPJP rules come to describing how points are scored is in Article 29 “Boules equidistant from the jack”
As for boule-to-jack separation, you may find this post useful:
If you’re on Facebook, a good place to ask questions about petanque is
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PETANQUE.QA/