What Hardness? This may sound strange when most boule are made of steel but there really is quite a difference. The hard boule is the choice of the pointer who, when applying backspin to the boule doesn't want the hard landing on gravel and sometimes granite chipping's to be to detrimental to his boule. The shooter who is endlessly searching for the Spot Carreau chooses a soft boule that will absorb a great deal of the impact upon striking the oppositions boule thus tending to stay in the head around the jack. The soft boule is generally more expensive and its life considerably shorter due to wear. For the novice a hard boule is always the recommended choice. Many manufacturer's have introduced a Semi Soft boule such as the Obut IT115 if you wish to fall between Hard and Soft boule. How many stripes? Once again the pointer and shooter differ, the pointer chooses a boule with heavy stripes so that it grips the ground on landing and a great deal of control can be applied in side spin and back spin on the ground. A shooter chooses a smooth boule so that it leaves the hand cleanly at the chosen trajectory. The novice should go for a middle of the road pattern . See Boule pages at www.pycpetanque.com