Andre Strong steps onto a large gravel court bordered on each side by railroad ties. He uses his toe to draw a small circle on the ground and tosses a tiny wooden ball – called a cochonnet – in the air. It lands several yards away. With a heavy metal ball, or boule, in hand, he steps into the ring, bends his knees, breathes and focuses intently on his target.

His palm faces downward, and Strong pumps his forearm up and down several times before releasing the boule. It sails and then drops abruptly with a thud, leaving a small divot near the cochonnet. With a single throw he has taken the lead, and his teammates let out a cheer.

“It’s a very social kind of thing,” said Strong, a Penobscot resident who learned the game of boules, or petanque, as a boy in France. “For years, we didn’t know the rules, but we got more and more into playing the game right. We still do it mainly for fun, though.”

That’s why people play backyard games. They’re a celebration of Maine’s sweet, fleeting summer. Whether you’re playing boules or badminton, whether you’re throwing a Wiffle ball or a bocce ball, the object of the game is universal. It’s a chance for friends to come together, have a drink, strut their stuff, talk a little trash, throw heavy objects and revel in the competition.

This is a farmhouse in Brooklin, not a stadium in Athens, and the lively group of a dozen or so friends is competing for bragging rights, not medals. But the competition can really heat up on the Blue Hill Peninsula’s boules circuit.

Strong and his teammates in the Maine Boules Club compete nationally – they came in fourth in the country last year. But the group of friends that meets each Monday throughout the summer ranges from experts to amateurs. They gather at a different home each week, where the courts vary from gravel to grass, for boules, beer and a potluck. All are welcome.

The group embraces newcomers because even the core players were new to the game once.

“We were playing back in the ’80s,” said Devta Doolan of Portland, who vacations in Deer Isle each summer. “It wasn’t nearly as organized. It was just as much fun, but a little crazier.”

“Oh yeah. You guys were using coconuts back then since you couldn’t find boules,” Doolan’s friend Peter Driscoll added, laughing.

They may not be tossing coconuts, but many more people are playing now. In the past, people would always gather at the home Strong shares with his wife, Marjorie Kernan. They have since redone the parking lot at their Blue Hill antiques store so it’s one big boules court. But today there are plenty of options – eight people in the area have enough room for three games to take place concurrently at their homes.

“People having their own courts and us rotating around has brought in a lot more people who might not have tried it,” Kernan said.

And even though the neophytes occasionally face off against the national players, in boules, anything can happen. Because the boules court truly is the people’s court.

“Even the best players get baaaaad shots sometimes,” said Duncan Ralph of Deer Isle. “The best thing is, it’s really fun.”

Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.