Our Story
Our commitment to growing the sport can be traced back to building a community bocce ball park on a vacant city lot in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago in 2013. Founders Alicia Harvey, Alex Gara, and Matt David brought a collective background in hospitality, community development, and grassroots projects to create a fervent subculture around our first bocce endeavor, the Wicker Park Bocce Club.
Building off of that momentum, we created the American Bocce Company in early 2015. Our high level goals have always been to grow more opportunities for the sport and raise participation on a global level.
Over the years that has manifested in many forms. Due to our inclusive and community-driven approach, most fans experience us through easy-entry social leagues at bars and restaurants. We’ve hosted hundreds of leagues in Chicago and dozens of others in cities branching from Tampa to Detroit to Boise.
Others have experienced American Bocce’s impact through our unique partnerships and activations. Thousands have experienced the joy of bocce with ABC on Carnival Cruises, at major music festivals, and countless surprising settings from malls to office buildings. Perhaps our most impactful work with bocce has been with the Special Olympics. Through our partnership with Packaworld International, we’ve helped Special Olympics bocce programming across the world.
We’re now applying the same thoughtful, thorough approach to raising the bar of the sport’s most competitive domestic levels. After a successful pilot program in late 2020 we are ready to go national with a multitude of large-scale tournaments that will appeal to both the most competitive and most passionate players in the United States.
We’re convinced that there are very few occasions that can't be elevated by bocce. From festivals like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, to weddings and corporate outings, we're always ready to roll!
About bocce
Whether you’re a traveler of space or time, you’ll find some version of bocce ball wherever you land. The game itself is an exercise in simplicity and nuance. And passionately caring about rolling balls and arguing about measurements, strategy and the correct way to say “pallino.”
Bocce has been around for a long long time and there are many variations to be found the world over, but they all boil down to the same goal: get your team’s bocce balls closer to the little target ball then the other team’s balls.
How to play Bocce
You’ll need 8 bocce balls, 1 pallino (little target ball), 2 teams of even size (recommend 2v2 or 4v4), and a field of play.
We play our league and tournament games on dedicated courts and believe that’s the best arena for the game, but we’ll still passionately encourage you to play on an open field or beach if that’s your best option. (This How to Play section will be geared towards court play.)
Each bocce ball represents a potential point, though points are not tallied until all the balls have been thrown at the target. Only the team with the ball closest to the pallino will score and they’ll tally as many points as they have balls closer to the pallino than the other team. At the end of every frame, one team is awarded 1-4 points, depending on how many of their balls are closer than the opponent’s closest. You’ll play to a predetermined score—we tend to play to 12.
Those are the basics—that’s it. Go out and play!
Actually, hold on.
There are two rules that must be discussed next as they have the greatest impact on strategy and enjoyment.
The first is that teams do not simply alternate turns. In a frame of bocce, one team is “in” and one team is “out.” The “in” team has the ball closest to the pallino. The “out” team has to throw until they are “in.” That may take one more throw or they may throw all four of their balls before the “in” team throws their second ball.
The other key rule is that the back wall is dead. Rather, any ball that touches that back wall is dead, aka removed from play. One more clarification. A ball cannot be thrown and hit the back wall unless it touches a ball first. An important note to keep in mind is that once a ball is legally thrown and is on the court, it’s gonna stay on the court even if it is hit into the back wall.
That’s all the major bocce need-to-knows as you head out to play.
Here is a relatively short list of other important rules and considerations as you begin your bocce journey.
In a 4v4 game, split your team into 2s and send a pair to each side of the court. In a 2v2, stick together and walk the court between frames.
Each player on a side has to throw 2 balls in the frame. The order in which they do that is up to them (AABB, ABAB, ABBA).
Courts typically have foul lines that you cannot cross with a ball in your hand. Once the ball leaves your hand, you’re free from those restrictions.
The pallino belongs to the team that scored in the previous frame. They throw it as well as the first bocce ball of the frame. To decide who begins with it to start the game, a coin flip or anything more fun than that is recommended.
If drinks are allowed on your court of play, then we highly recommend having one in your non-throwing hand (for balance, of course).
Are there more rules than we’ve covered here? Of course. But you didn’t sign up to read a novel and we didn’t sign up to write one.
If you want to dig into the fine print, then the USBF Open Bocce rules are a great place to start. If you’d rather just argue about it, then know that’s a time-honored tradition of the game.
FAQ
+ I want to join a league but I’ve never played before. What do I do?
You’ll look back one day and say, ‘joining that bocce league was one of the best decisions I made in a very long time’ :) It’s super fun, super easy, and there is absolutely no skill or prior experience necessary. Bocce takes a moment to learn but a lifetime to master. You’ll find descriptions of the leagues on their profile pages to help guide your decision making. If you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to contact us here.
+ Do you have a dedicated location for bocce?
Not exactly. We have an event venue in Chicago that hosts dozens of bocce events a year, and have a lengthy list of venue partners across the country, but most of our bocce programs and activations rely on a unique, portable, pop-up solution that can be brought just about anywhere.
+ Can we book you for corporate and private events outside of Chicago?
Absolutely. We don’t have equipment and staff in every town, but we do have a network of trained ambassadors who love to travel. Private event costs do tend to run higher in areas without American Bocce equipment, but don’t let that stop us from exploring an opportunity for you.
+ I want to start a league in my own town. What are my next steps?
First of all, great idea! We have a variety of ways we can work together on getting your own league started. So whether you want to become ABC - “Your Hometown” , or just want to do your own thing, our general philosophy is the more bocce, the better. We’re here to help.
+ Do you offer any youth programs?
Yes, we finally do. Please reach out if you're interested in any in-class, after-school, or custom youth programming.
+ I want to get really good at bocce. What are some resources for that?
Saaaaame. Unfortunately, there aren’t a ton of great resources out there but we’re working on changing that. The best bocce in the world is played here. If you don’t speak Italian, that might not be helpful though. Check out oddballsports.tv for frequently updated content.