On October 11th, a group of NSCer’s gathered at Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos for a lively round of Bocce Ball. For those not familiar with the game, the basic object is to get the big balls as close as possible to the little ball. The game starts by rolling a small silver ball called the pallino. Each team then rolls the larger balls, with each team trying to get their balls closer to the pallino than the opposing team’s balls. The team whose ball is closest to the pallino scores for that round, geting one point for each of their balls that is closer to the pallino than the other team’s closest ball. The game is simple to play, but the strategy can involve knocking the opposing team’s balls out of the way, or even knocking the pallino to another location. Yours truly, was accused of using that strategy to knock the other balls out of the way. I will admit to this, but a lot of that was luck, since I would have a hard time hitting another ball if I actually aimed for it.
We were randomly divided into different teams for the tournament. Since we are a ski club, the teams were Green Circle, Blue Square, Black Diamond and Double Diamond, with Green Circles challenging the Blue Squares and the Diamonds facing off. Our lack of experience playing bocce ball didn’t dampen our enthusiasm as you could hear screams of excitement or groans of misery as teams got their ball closer or knocked others away. Arguments about whose ball were actually closer had to be settled with a tape measure. Our lack of experience, however, did affect out ability to score points. A bocce ball game usually goes to 12 points. We had two courts reserved for an hour and a half, and at the end, no team had manage to score 12 points. Of course, we were distracted by the appetizers of calamari, fried ravioli and spinach dip. No NSC event would be complete without food.
The final scores were Green Circle 11, Blue Square’s 10, Black Diamond’s 11 and Double Black’s 9. The games were too close to call, but although we could not declare a winner, we all had fun playing bocce ball and socializing with other NSC members and guest.
