Boules sports fall into many categories, all of which look pretty much the same until you get to know them, like spaniels. Obviously my preference was for crown green bowls, because it sounds so fancy. Instead, I did a full week of pétanque, because I was with a bunch of French people. We played for two hours a day, and it was only on day three that I had a clue what the rules were. This was only partly because of the language barrier.