Tournament Format
- Teams will be randomly assigned to 1 of 16 groups.
- Each group will have a round robin tournament, and the top 2 teams from each group will advance to a 32-team single elimination tournament
- In case of a tie based on record, the point differential will be used to determine who advances.
- If that is a tie, the team who scored more overall points will advance.
- If there is a tie after that – there will be a 1-round roll-off. Coin toss determines who rolls first.
Top 4 teams in the single elimination tournament receive payouts (assuming a full 64 teams).
1st Place: $600
2nd Place: $400
3rd Place: $250
4th Place: $150
Beginning the game
- A coin toss will determine which team throws the pallino first
Throwing the Bocce Balls
- All balls must be thrown from outside the “End Line”.
- The pallino must cross them “Middle Line” and stay within the court to be a valid throw.
- If it doesn’t the other team will get to throw the pallino.
- The player that threw the pallino begins by throwing one of his colored balls–trying to get it as close to the pallino as possible.
- The ball must be thrown underarm.
- After the first player has thrown his bocce ball, his team is known as “inside” because he has the closest ball to the pallino.
- A member of the opposing team then throws one of his bocce balls.
- If his/her ball is closer to the pallino, then the opposing team throws.
- If he/she is not closer to the pallino, then the team gets another try to throw one of their balls. They must continue to throw until they have used all of their balls or until they are closer to the pallino, in which case it is the other team’s turn to throw again.
- Once one team has thrown all of their balls attempting to get closer to the pallino, then the other team throws the rest of their balls.
- A team can have 2 or 3 people playing at any time, but no player can roll more than twice in a round.
- If the pallino is knocked out of the court, the round is cancelled and starts over.
Scoring
- When all balls have been thrown, the teams shall proceed to measure the distance of the balls from the pallino.
- Each ball that is closer to the pallino than the nearest ball of the opposing team, scores 1 point. In case of a tie between two balls of opposing teams, the balls can cancel each other’s score.
- Any ball not inside the marked court will not count.
- If the ball is physically touching the painted line it is considered on the court.
- The first team to 15 points wins the game.
- Round Robin games will be 30 minutes max. If no team has scored 15 points at that point, the team with more points wins. At the 28-minute mark a warning will be announced. At that warning, the next pallino throw is the last, unless that round end with a tie. Then one more round will occur to break the tie. In the bracket rounds, every game will be played to 15, there will be no time limit.
There will be referees on site to answer any questions or help as needed.
The referee’s judgment is final.