What has nine balls, lots of hands and loads of fun?

A game of bocce ball, of course.

“Bocce ball is a traditional Italian yard game,” said Jon Arnold, an owner of the DePalma’s Italian Café on Timothy Road.

“You start out with two sets of balls, different colors obviously. They’re pretty big, like a grapefruit, and then you got a little ball. It’s called a pollino,” he said.

Ben Tibbitts, another DePalma’s owner, came up with the idea to bring the game to the restaurant before relocating from the Homewood Hills shopping center to Timothy Road.

Lovers of bocce ball can come to DePalma’s and learn to play the game while listening to live music.

“He was talking about it before we moved over here, and we finally saved up some money and got it done,” Arnold said. “Once it cools down a little bit, we’ll be starting up our bocce ball league. We’re going to do that every Wednesday.”

Bocce, pronounced “botch-ee,” pits two teams against each other on a grassy pitch built in front of the restaurant. After deciding who tosses first, everyone stands on the same side of the small field.

“You throw the little pollino down the court, and then each team tries to get their balls as close as they can to that one as possible,” Arnold said.

A rule sheet is available for players, as well as instruction from the DePalma’s staff, but in the end Arnold considers bocce ball to be a gentlemen’s game with only one strict guideline.

“Don’t just chuck them into the woods or something. I guess that would be our house rule. We’d like to get the bocce balls back eventually,” Arnold said.

League play is free to sign up and will take place around 7 p.m.

“If we can get enough people to show up, we can set up a little tournament, and we’ll have a server out there to get you guys drinks and beer and everything you want,” Arnold said. “Just play as long as you want — it’s really informal.”

DePalma’s also hosts live music every Thursday, which gives players a nice soundtrack to ease the tension of battle.

While league play takes place each Wednesday, the game is available any time the restaurant is open, which Arnold hopes will drum up excitement for bocce ball and get the venture rolling.

“I’d love to formalize it and do fun stuff, have awards and do a big party ceremony finishing [league play] off,” Arnold said. “Could be a lot of fun.”