Salt+Pepper Bocce Rules

Teams and Setup

S+P Bocce is played by two teams of two people each. Players sit at the ends of a long dinner table. Players on the same team sit across the table from each other (but on the same side of the table, so they can throw to each other without disturbing the other team).

Length of Match

A match may either be decided by one game or three games (first team to win two games wins the match). Tournament finals should be best of three. Other games can be decided before the match starts by agreement of the players.

Length of Game

Games are won when one team reaches 21 points, or lost when one team reaches –15. These point totals may be changed upon agreement between the teams prior to the start of the match.

Game Play

Both shakers begin at one end of the table. The players at that end of the table take turns, first one then the other, to "shake", which is to say, to slide their shaker down the table towards their teammate at the opposite end of the table. In general, the team whose shaker is closest to the far end of the table without falling off the table wins the round.

A legal shake is one that travels at least halfway across the table; however, any shake that falls off the table is legal, no matter how far it traveled before doing so. A team that throws an illegal shake must re-shake until they throw a legal shake. (See Weird Things below.)

It is critical that the 'receiving' teammates do not touch, pick up, or interfere with either team's shaker until both teams have thrown their shakers and the round has been judged. If a player stops or picks up a shaker before the end of the round, it is treated as if their team's shaker has fallen off the table (see Scoring below). This includes a player who picks up the other team's shaker.

In order to decide who goes first in the first round, each game starts with a "shake-off": both teams throw their shaker at the same time, and the team who wins gets to decide if they want to go first or second. (Going second is an advantage, so most teams who win the shake-off choose to shake second.) From then on, the team that wins the previous point must shake first.

Scoring

• If both team's shakers stay on the table, the team whose shaker is closer to the far end of the table gets +1 point.

• If a team throws their shaker off the table, they score –3 points. (The other team does not score +1.)

• A shaker that comes to rest hanging partially off the far end of the table is called a "hanger" (or sometimes a "leaner") and scores +3 points.

  • That team does not also score +1 for being closest to the edge, although see Weird Things below.

  • A shaker hanging over the side of the table, rather than the end, is not a "hanger".

If the teams cannot agree on which team's shaker is closer, seek assistance from unbiased audience members.

Weird Things That Happen Sometimes

• If both teams throw their shaker off the table, both teams score –3.

• Traditionally, the way to determine if a very-close shaker is actually a hanger is to run a finger up the edge of the table and try to flip the shaker over. If the shaker flips, it's a hanger.

• If both teams throw hangers, both teams score +3. Recruit an audience member to judge which shaker went further (is hanging further over the edge) and that team scores an additional +1 for a total of +4 points.

• If a team's shaker falls over but stays on the table, it scores 0 points and can not win the round or be counted as a hanger. This is true regardless of whether the shake was legal. The other team's shaker automatically wins the round (so long as it is a legal shake and stays on the table). If it rolls off the table, it counts –3 as usual.

• If the first team to shake throws their shaker off the table, the second team is still required to shake. See the "halfway" rule under Game Play, above. An alternative rule, which the teams can agree to play by, is that if the first team throws off the table and the second team fails to throw a legal shake, the round is canceled and no score (positive or negative) is assigned. However, this rule can not be invoked by the second team in order to avoid losing a round if the first team's shaker is on the table.

• Hitting the other team's shaker with your shaker is legal (but inadvisable). For the following discussion, assume that team A threw first, then team B threw and hit team A's shaker.

  • If team A's shaker is moved as a result of the hit but does not fall off the table, it is judged where it comes to rest. (It is highly unlikely that contact between shakers would move team A's shaker backwards.) If its new location is a hanger, score it appropriately.

  • If team A's shaker falls off the table as a result of the hit, team B scores –3 points and team A scores 0. If team A's shake was a hanger before it was hit, team A scores +3 and team B scores –3. (This is to discourage using the knock-off rule to cancel a hanger.)

Last Updated: Ben Cordes and Phill West, 8 July 2025