Glossary
Plombée
The throw that goes up to come straight down. High, soft, and dead on arrival.
Plombée. It means “leaded.” Like the weight on a fishing line.
In pétanque, it is a point that goes very high and drops straight down onto the cochonnet. No rolling. No skidding across the terrain. It falls out of the sky and stops dead where it lands.
Young players love the fast, low shot. It looks impressive. The plombée looks like nothing — an old man tossing a boule at the clouds. Then it lands exactly where it was always going to land, and the whole game goes quiet for a second. Then somebody says “belle.”
Two things you need: a soft hand and no fear. Most players have neither, so they throw low and pray.
The word comes from fishing. The plombée is the lead sinker on the line. Same idea. Drop it where the fish are. Drop it where the cochonnet is.
Americans do not have this word. They have “lob” and “arc,” but those are about distance. The plombée is about refusal — the refusal to let the ground have a say.
That is all.
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