Bolo palma is a variant of

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

that originated in and is played throughout the region of

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

, north of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The basic aim of the game is to knock over as many pins as possible with a wooden ball. Records of the game go back as far as the 16th century. The game was also spread to neighbouring areas of eastern

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

and northern

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half of ...

n emigration also took the practice of the sport elsewhere in Spain, to places such as the Basque Country,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

and

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

and even to other countries like

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

The set-up

The playing field or ''bolera'' is between 30–34 m long and 8 m wide and roughly split into three areas, the ''zona de tiro'' (launch zone), the middle area or ''caja'' or ''zona de bolos'' (pin zone) and the ''zona de birle'' (snatching zone) . The ball itself is spherical, about 12–18 cm in diameter and made of

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

, sometimes with a

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

centre to make the ball heavier. It usually weighs between 1.5-2.3 kg. The first section is the ''zona de tiro'', the rectangular launching zone 8 m wide and 20 m long from where the players launch the ball. There are circles on the ground called ''tiros,'' which mark different foot positions for the players. The ''caja'' straddles the ''zona de tiro'' and the ''zona de birle'' at the far end. It also has a borderline to its front called ''fleje''. Here, there are 9 wooden ''bolos'' (pins), made out of

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...

, with a metal base (''argolla'' or ''anilla''), about 45 cm tall and 5 cm diameter, weighing between 550-630 g. These are placed on pegs in a 3x3 square exactly straddling both ''zonas''. There is also a tenth pin called ''emboque'' or ''cachi'' which is smaller and off to one side. The third section is the ''zona de birle'', a 12m long area where the second phase of the game is played.

The game

Every game consists of two phases: *''Tiro'': the shot, where the player launches the ball from the launching area. *''Birle'': the second shot where the player is allowed to launch the ball again from the position it landed in the ''tiro''. In the first phase, the player stands on the ''tiro'', at least 12m and at most 20m away from the nearest pin depending on the distance selected. The player then launches the ball upwards into the air, employing a number of different techniques depending on whether the ''emboque'' is to the left or the right of the ''caja''. Any pin knocked over is worth one point but if only the central pin is knocked over, two points are won. After having thrown three balls, the player passes over to the ''zona de birle''. They are then allowed to bowl the three balls again from where they fell in the first throw, a move called ''birlar''. If a ball comes to rest very close to two pins, a special move called ''segar'' is made in which the player knocks over the close pins while aiming for others. A ''bola queda'' is a bad ball that cannot be rethrown. The most common causes of a bad ball is a ball that touches the ground before crossing the ''fleje'', a ball that lands on the ''fleje'', when the ball does not cross the line of the ''emboque'' and when the ball first touches the ground to the right or left of the ''caja'' There are a number of ways in which this game can be won, either by reaching an agreed number of knocked over pins (usually between 20 and 40), by throwing eight balls and meeting a variety of challenges and so on.

References

External links

Bolo WeekCantabrian Bolo Federation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolo Palma Bowls Culture of Cantabria Sport in Cantabria Sport in Asturias Basque sport Bowling in Spain Sports originating in Spain Bowling

The set-up

The game

References

Further reading

External links