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Proudly displaying the red, yellow and black stripes of the Belgian flag the sign outside Ghent, Minnesota…300 people, many of Belgian descent, along Highway 68 near Marshall…claims that Ghent is the rolle bolle* capital of the world.  Well, maybe the New World.

As hinted by the gender of the sign outside Ghent, Minnesota, rolle bolle is open to men, women and children. 

Every Thursday night from Memorial Day to Labor Day 40 to 60 people take the court a door away from the Silver Dollar Bar to play a game that resembles horseshoes, bowling, and bocce ball except they don’t use a ball or horseshoes. 

The point of the game is to roll what looks like the hard rubber wheel from a wheel barrow owned by a guy with a limp, like the tire on a car that’s radically out of alignment, the “bolle.”  That’s the trick, to get this warped wheel closest to a stake at the other end of the court.

Bollers take their best slow moving, arcing shots at the international rolle bolle tournament in Ghent and Marshall.

A fast moving game it ain’t as the rolle bollers have to calculate the correct arc that will hook their bolle where they want it, three to a team.  The team with the closest bolle to the stake gets all the count until you reach 8 or 10 points depending on the rules.

Rolle bollers encourage their bolles after their release. 

A little research, and I do precious little, tells me that rolle bolle and similar games all started about the time of the Reformation actually promoted by the changing churches of the day, but rolle bolle caught on pretty much exclusively in Belgium.  One suspects there may have been some side bets then, too.  I pulled up a Ghent website where a younger rolle bolle practitioner advises that you play better if you’re drunk, hence the packed sand court’s proximity to a bar that has been around since 1934.

My curiosity peaked at exactly the right time.  I’ve always had a gut for news.  I hit it on the weekend of Ghent’s rolle bolle internationale, international because of some rolle bollers from Winnipeg.  Others come from the Quad Cities of Illinois.  The rolle bollers can tick off the handful of places where it is played. 

The bolle isn’t something you’ll come across at your local sporting goods store.  One guy I talked to said he only knew of two places they’re made: by a guy just down the road in Marshall, Minnesota and a place in Illinois.

Remember, don’t face the stake head-on when you rolle your bolle.  It will arc off onto Highway 68 which can be busy with bigger wheeled traffic at harvest time. 

* Rolle bolle is pronounced just like you would hope, like rolly poly.