Petanque
· v1.0.1
About
Petanque — keep score, record the game
Keep score of a game of petanque on your wrist while recording it as a proper
Garmin activity. Duration, heart rate, calories and an optional GPS track all
sync to Garmin Connect and on to Strava, just like any other session.
It also keeps score for bocce and other boules games (automatic throw counting
is tuned for petanque).
Reaching 13 ends the game, not the recording. Play as many games as you like in
a single activity and the app keeps a running tally — "Games 2–1" — across the
whole match.
How it works
Start the app from your activity list, press START, and play.
• START — Menu: resume, stats, settings, corrections, save & finish
• BACK — Add a throw
• UP — Add a point for you
• DOWN — Add a point for your opponent
• Hold UP — Menu (always available)
Add points as you count up each end. When a side reaches 13 the screen shows
GAME TO YOU (or GAME TO OPP), the tally updates, and START begins the next game.
To finish, choose START › Save & Finish. The activity is written and syncs on
your next connection. BACK never exits the match screen, so a game in progress
can't be lost to a stray press — and even force-quitting saves rather than
discards. Miscounted? The menu has Undo, plus You −1, Opponent −1 and Throw −1.
Three screens
• Scoring — Game number, score, games-won tally, throws and elapsed time.
• Stats — Elapsed time, heart rate and average, calories, distance, throws and
throws-per-game, plus GPS state and battery.
• Settings — Tune everything on the wrist, mid-match, without a phone.
Automatic throw counting
Throws are counted by detecting the knee-bend you make as you throw. It works
with the watch on your non-throwing arm: an arm swing would be invisible to the
accelerometer, but a squat moves your whole torso and registers on either wrist.
Treat it as a fun stat, not a precision instrument — bending to pick up boules
looks a lot like a throw and can pad the count. You can always add a throw by
hand with BACK, correct it with Throw −1, or switch automatic counting off
entirely.
To sanity-check the calibration, watch Thr/game on the Stats screen. You throw 3
boules per end in singles and doubles (2 in triples), and a game to 13 usually
runs 8–13 ends — so expect roughly 25–40 throws per game, or 16–26 in triples.
Much higher means it's counting your walk to the jack: lower the Sensitivity.
Near zero means your bend is too gentle: raise it.
Settings (all on the watch)
• Auto throws — On or off.
• Sensitivity — Very high to very low; the main tuning knob.
• Bend time — How long your bend down and back up takes.
• Min gap — Minimum time between two counted throws.
• Play to — 11, 13, 15 or 21 points.
• GPS at start — Off by default to save battery; turn on for a map and distance.
Select an item to cycle to the next value. Changes apply immediately and are
remembered.
What ends up in Garmin Connect
• Duration, heart rate and calories
• GPS track and distance, if GPS was enabled
• Games played, games won by each side, and total throws
The session is recorded as a Training / Match activity named "Petanque", since
Connect IQ has no native petanque type.
A note on Strava
Standard fitness data comes through fine — duration, heart rate, calories, and
the GPS map and distance if you enabled GPS. Two things won't: Strava titles the
activity itself (usually "Morning Workout"), because its Garmin integration
doesn't import activity titles — rename it in a couple of taps, or use a tool
like ActivityFix to do it automatically from the FIT name. And the
petanque-specific fields (games, throws) are Connect IQ developer fields, which
Garmin Connect shows but Strava doesn't.
Known limitations
• Automatic throw counting is approximate, and picking up boules can inflate it.
• Strava names the activity itself — see above.
• Buttons only: no touchscreen support, so no Venu or vívoactive models.
What's new
Added support for 8 languages (French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Danish)