Pétanque is a fun game that brings together people of all ages. It is played with metal balls (boules in French, bocce in Italian).  Playing with balls started during the Roman conquest of Gaule. The balls were made out of clay, then wood, and finally steel. The first official club was in the "Clos Jouve" in Lyon around 1850. The Pétanque derivative was created by Jules Lenoir in La Ciotat, near Marseille, France in 1907. Jules, who suffered from rheumatisms, drew a circle and played with "pé tanca", which means feet anchored to the ground in the occitan language. Petanque now has over 10 million players worldwide in 160 countries; over 2000 players are licensed in the USA.