Version 1.0 was released on 2017-08-01. PL went through 5 preliminary versions in its first 28 months, before the first semi-stable version was released on 2020-01-01. Since then, revised versions were issued on 2021-01-01 and 2022-01-01. The goal of the revisions has been primarily to close loopholes in the rules, revise or clarify poor wording, simplify wording to make it easier to translate the rules into other languages, and to revise the rules in response to changes in the FIPJP rules.
As we’ve said elsewhere, our goal (ideally) is to produce a version of the traditional rules that is so stable that there is no reason to change it ever again.
El Proyecto Petanca Libre se complace en anunciar el lanzamiento de la versión 2022−01−01 de las reglas de Petanca Libre. La página de inicio de la versión está aquí.
Das Petanque Libre Projekt freut sich, die Veröffentlichung der Version 2022−01−01 der Regeln von Petanque Libre bekannt zu geben. Die Homepage der Version ist HIER.
CHANGES IN THIS VERSION
Many rules were revised to make them clearer. On the whole, this version of the rules should be clearer and more readable than the previous version. Some terminology choices were revised in order to make it easier to translate PL rules into other languages. Notably, the verb “to undo” was replaced by the verb “to reverse”.
The rules about minimum required distances when placing the circle and the jack were updated to conform to the 2020 FIPJP rules. Note, however, that PL still differs from the FIPJP rules in requiring the thrown jack to be 50cm from all dead-ball lines, not just end dead-ball lines. This forestalls questions and confusions that can arise when playing on non-rectangular lanes, lines with boule-stops but no boundary lines, etc.
The rule about stepping on the circle was modified to allow a squat pointer’s heel to be above the circle. This follows the rule interpretation of many FIPJP umpires and some national federations. As Sam Porter noted in a comment on “Ask the Umpire”, “The initial object of the circle was to prevent a forward or side step as in jeu provençal to gain an angle. A heel touching the circle is hardly a game changer.”
The notion of challenging the validity of the thrown jack was removed and replaced by a rule similar to the rule about measuring the point. The PL rule is now— Each team, before playing its first boule, may make measurements to verify that the thrown jack meets all of its validity requirements. For background on this change, see THIS.
Petanque Libre 