New boules designs

Obut's new "Sunfolies" and "Tatou" boules, that were presented to the public at La Marseillaise in July, have arrived at our warehouse.

I am very pleased, because for many years we've asked them to come up with designs that stand out and to increase the variety. We all know that bocce has an advantage over petanque in that colored balls are much easier to recognize, especially for beginning players.

But it's not that simple: the traditional circles that all manufacturers use, are done on a lathe, by cutting circular grooves and removing minute quantities of steel.
These new designs are cold stamped, while the boules are rolled under a press. Not an easy task, because the pressure applied has to be strong enough to deform the surface, but without "squeezing" the hollow spheres. Nobody wants to play with eggs!

Sunfolies are simple shapes, the Tatous are more intricate.
I tried out the "bubbles" last week in Quebec for fun games with the NY guys at the end of the tournament, and they have a real nice feel. And everyone knew whose they were ;-)

Fun designs