The "jeu de quilles de neuf" ("nine-pin skittle game") of France, also known simply as "quilles de 9" or just "quilles", is a complicated variant with similarities to both British skittles and pétanque. It is popular only in the southwest of the country. It is an indoor game which is played on a hard-packed surface. The skittles are placed on a square court, each resting on a round piece of wood called "pitere" or "pitet", 2.20 m apart from each other. A skittle measures about 96 cm and weighs 3 kg, and is made of beech wood. The bowl (ball) weighs about 6 kg and has a 30 cm diameter; it is made of walnut wood. There is also an eight-pin version, "quilles de huit (8)", and a version played with a mallet, "quilles au maillet", which is obviously related to ground billiards and its variants such as croquet and paille-maille, and which has experienced a resurgence in Gascony since 1973.