In Bocce Ball, there are eight large plastic-metal balls and one small ball of the same material

called the Pallino. The game can be played on virtually any surface. At the beginning of the game, the balls are divided evenly among the players, and one player chosen at random rolls the pallino onto the field. From this point, the game begins. In each round, also called a frame, the object is to roll the larger bocce balls towards the pallino and the balls that are closest to the pallino score the most points. There are various techniques and skills in Bocce Ball that relates directly to physics, and how well a player can control the physics of the ball. The first technique simply involves the physics of controlling how far the bocce balls roll in order to get the balls as close as possible to the pallino (this play is called the Punto). Because the ball is rolling, the power of the throw must take into account the Balls rotational inertia, which has the solid sphere moment of inertia, 2/5MR^2, which defines the balls resistance to starting and stopping rolling. The solid spherical shape of the balls generally gives it a better distribution of mass as the mass is evenly concentrated, as opposed to shells where the mass may be concentrated away from the center. Because of this characteristic, the rotational inertia is lessened and the balls rotation is easier to control. However, Bocce Balls are generally heavy for their size, which rules out the shape of the ball, and greatly increases its inertia, both linearly (by Newtons law of Inertia) and rotationally. In order to make the game more than just mindless hurling of objects towards another mass, players are allowed to perform a raffa, which is an attempt to knock opponent bocce balls away from the Pallino by rolling the balls aimed at the opponents balls or the pallino. Here, we can examine the physics involved in the collision of the balls. Because the balls are rather rigid, the collisions are generally elastic, meaning that the balls retain their original forms, do not stick, and conserve their total kinetic energy after colliding. This also means that the initial and final relative speeds of the balls are equal, but opposite in direction of displacement. When the bocce ball collides with other players balls, then the initial velocity of the rolling ball becomes zero after the collision while the final velocity of the hit ball takes on the velocity of the initially rolling ball, since the balls are of equal masses. If the rolling ball collides with the pallino, then the rolling ball will maintain most of its initial velocity while the pallino moves with double the initial velocity after the collision since the mass of the pallino is much smaller than the mass of the initially rolling ball. When a player attempts to strike either opponent balls or the pallino, it is another play called Volo. What makes this different than raffa is the fact that the player makes an aerial throw. Here, basic kinematics applies to the motion of the thrown ball. The player usually needs to throw the ball at an angle, and the horizontal and vertical velocities, independent of each other, depends on this angle and the initial magnitude of the velocity. The vertical component of the balls velocity governs how long the ball will remain in the air, as the ball is eventually accelerated downward by gravity. The horizontal component on the other hand, only governs the horizontal displacement, based on how long the ball is in the air, and does not slow down if air resistance is negligible. If the bocce ball touches the pallino, then the play is called baci or

a kiss, and the player who made that play automatically wins the frame. This involves the culmination of all of the previously discussed physics concepts, where rotational inertia and kinematics of the thrown/rolled ball are perfectly accounted for and controlled, and the elastic collision occurs but with the rolling velocity being slow enough so that the velocity of the pallino is equal to the rolling ball.