Pétanque is a game where the goal is, while standing with the feet together in a small circle, to throw metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (jack). The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel, but can also be played on grass or other surfaces. Sandy beaches are not suitable. Similar games are bocce and bowls.

The first record of a tossing game dates back to Ancient Greece as early as the 6th century B.C.. Coins turned to flat stones, then stone balls, called spheritics. The Ancient Romans modified the game by adding a target that had to be approached as closely as possible. This Roman variation was brought to Provence by Roman soldiers and sailors. Stone balls became wooden during medieval times, and are metallic nowadays.

The current form of the game was created in 1907 in La Ciotat, in Provence, in southern France, by Jules Lenoir, whom arthritis prevented from running before he threw the ball, as required in the previous version of the game. The length of the pitch or field was reduced by roughly half, and the moving delivery was replaced with a stationary one. The name comes from Les Ped Tanco in the Provençal dialect of the Occitan language, meaning "feet together."

The casual form of the game of Pétanque is played by about 17 million (out of 60+ million) people in France, mostly during their summer vacations. There are about 375,000 players licensed with the Fédération Française de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal (FFPJP) and some 3000 in England.