Episode 94

Dobro jutro, dragi prijatelji!

We’ve got an important lesson for you in this episode.

What if you’re in Croatia and in some kind of emergency?

It’s important to know how to ask for help.

Join us as we learn some possibly life-saving words!

Lesson

Help! - Pomozite! Upomoć

Hospital - bolnica

Ambulance - hitna pomoć

Medicine - lijek

Pharmacy - lijekarna

Pain - bol

Stomach - trbuh

Head - glava

The Super Slatko Report

In this edition of the Super Slatko Report, DJ Moe tells us about a beloved recreational game played in Croatia. Let’s learn more about “Boćanje”, or Bocce Ball!

Anywho, there’s a pretty popular game that can get pretty competitive at times thats popular worldwide, that game is called Bocce, sometime called Bocce Ball here in the US.

So all that said, let’s learn about Bocce.

The game has some history to it, dating all the way back to Roman times, but todays version was primarily developed in Italy. Bocce is played all over Europe with some specific hot beds in Australia, North and South America, due to immigrant migration.

Bocce is a non-contact sport, the name Bocce is Italian, it’s the plural of Boccia which means Bowl. In South America it’s known as Bochas or Bocha. In Croatia it either goes by boćanje or bućanje.

The standard court, on dirt, grass, asphalt, turf; measures 27.5 meters in length (90ft) and can be anywhere from 2.5 to 4 meters wide (8.2 to 13.1ft). There are usually walls or a lip that outlines the court which will come into play later

Bocce balls themselves can be made from wood, metal, clay or dense plastic. They are solid, when rolled or thrown, they land with a thud, so when a game is going best to stand back just in case. Each team will use 4 balls and are generally colored red or green.

How many players  can play?

You can play one on one, or teams; two vs two, three vs three or four vs four. The theme here is that it’s one person/ team vs another person/ team. And the teams can only go up to 4 because there are only 4 balls a team can play during each round.

So how do you play?

You start off with a ball called the Jack, Boccino or Pallina. This is a smaller white ball than the ones used by each team. Once teams are sorted, one team starts it off by throwing the Boccino into a designated zone, approximately 5meters (16ft) from the beginning of the court, but 2.5meters (8.2ft) from the end of the court. Most people aim for half way down the court to be safe, this will keep you in the zone.

Whichever team tosses out the Boccino gets to bowl first. The object of the game from here on out is to get as close to the Boccino as possible. Each team will take alternating turns trying to get as close to the Boccino as possible. As you bowl, you can move the Boccino to reposition it away from the other team, but be careful, if your ball rolls and hits the edges or wall, it’s a dead ball and doesn’t count in that round anymore.

How do you win?

There are points involved. Typically there is a number of points you are playing to, generally 7, 13 or 21. The first team to make it to the point goal wins. The points are tallied based on proximity to the Boccino. Here’s how with an example:

Uncle Mike and Tony D are playing each other and all the balls have been thrown, now we need to walk over and go see who got closer to the Boccino. When we look at the Boccino we can see that all of the balls Uncle Mike rolled are far away, but Tony D on the other hand has his right next to the Boccino. Because all four of Tony D’s are so close and Uncle Mike’s are so far away, Tony D scored max points, he earned a total of 4 this round, 1 point for each ball that’s close to the Boccino.

Another example: In round 2 Uncle Mike lands one of his balls pretty close to the Boccino. Tony D has one ball right next to the Boccino, he’s definitely the closest, but the next closest one is an Uncle Mike ball. Because the closest ball is a Tony D ball, Tony D. can only score 1 point. The only team that can score points in a round is the team that gets the closest to the Boccino. And the points stop adding up when the other team gets close enough to the Boccino to disrupt the point flow.

The game can get pretty technical and competitive as sometimes a tape measure is used to gauge proximity to the Boccino to see where the points will tally for each team.

As I mentioned in the intro to this Super Slatko Report, there are hotbeds all across the globe where this game is being played. There are pockets all over, including one in Chicago at Welles Park, where a group of Croatian men have a 3 decade tradition of playing Bocce on the park lawn.

I hope that this inspires you to give Bocce a try, I know I will.

And that’s it for the Super Slatko Report.