At my Italian-American boyfriend’s house, it’s not a cookout unless there are both kinds of sausage (spicy and sweet) and a game of bocce being played. So imagine my surprise when the game I usually see played by someone chomping a cigar and holding a plate of gabagul quite suddenly catapulted to all-the-rage status. In Brooklyn, epicenter of all things hipster, bars featuring indoor bocce are popping up faster than you can say “Ciao!” Union Hall and Floyd are local favorites for casual participation, but you can read The Brooklyn Bocce Ball Bulletin to follow serious New York leagues and their upcoming competitions.

What’s the appeal? Bocce is a precision sport, which means it’s perfect for those of us who get winded just watching Wiffleball. In it, a small ball called a pallino is thrown first and becomes the target. Teams then take turns throwing eight larger balls as close as they can to the pallino. Simple enough, right?

Professional sets can be found at Bocce Ball Sets for $30 and up, but a quick eBay search found used sets starting at $9.99. For a complete list of rules and other bocce facts, visit the Collegium Cosmicum ad Buxas, the preeminent international organization for the sport of bocce. –Katie D.