No more boules in Greece!
You may know the cheap chinese leisure boules sold in 3 pcs, 6pcs or in sets with even more pieces. Yes, they are not homologuees and can't be used by the serious petanquer, but in difficult times for the Greek economy and its people, they serve perfectly as low cost, initiation boules for the newcomers.
They are actually the only boules that are sold in stores in Greece, as the greek market is very small, new and not interesting for the major manufacturers. And, until 2016, even from these boules no more than just a few sets were sold per month.
But after the Hellenic Petanque Clubs Association was founded, in May 2016, we started some well orchestrated and serious efforts for the development of our sport. Lots of people learned about this wonderful game and guess what...soon they wanted to get their own boules, because you know, it's never good to depend on someone else when you want to play with the metals!
The demand was so high that even the prices got a little bit higher and now, they are all SOLD OUT. There is not a single boules set for sale in any store and so it will be until mid- or end July or maybe later.
So if you are going to visit Greece before August and you want to have some good leisure time with Petanque, make sure your hotel has taken good care or just bring your own boules with you!