Bocce exact finish

What is the exact finish rule in bocce?

Under the exact finish rule you have to land exactly on the target score to win. If the target is 12 and you are on 11, a frame worth two points does not win the game.

What happens to the excess varies by club. The most common version simply does not count the frame, so you stay on 11 and try again. A stricter version deducts the overshoot, so you go backwards. A gentler version scores only up to the target. Agree which one before the first frame, because all three are played somewhere.

It exists to stop a game ending on a lucky four-point frame, and to make the last few frames genuinely tactical: a team on 11 playing to 12 with exact finish has to think carefully about how many balls it wants close.

It is a house rule rather than an international one, and it is a switch when you set up a bocce match in Score All, along with the target score.

Where it applies

Related: Bocce scoring

This rule is a switch when you set up a game, so the scoreboard applies it for you. All scoring rules →