Photo by Deb Gau Jack Thompson practices rolle bolle during Belgian American Days in Ghent on Saturday.

GHENT — Belgian heritage is at the center of Ghent’s annual community festival. But for many of the people at Belgian American Days, it’s the game of rolle bolle in particular that really brings them together.

A crowd was gathered around the rolle bolle alleys in Ghent this weekend, as people from around the Midwest and Canada competed in the Belgian sport.

“It’s like family. Everybody knows everybody, and we all go to the same tournaments,” said Rylan Adam. “I met my wife playing rolle bolle.”

Mark Boerboom said the gathering was competitive.

“Everyone loves to win,” he said. “But it’s fun.”

Participants in the Belgian American Days rolle bolle tournament this weekend came from communities in Minnesota, llinois, Iowa and Canada.

“You have a large percentage of really good rolle bolle players,” said Marcella Matthys as she watched part of the competition Saturday.

Part of the spread of rolle bolle came when groups of Belgian immigrants came to North America, said Josh VanThournout. The immigrants settled in communities in the Midwest, and in central Canada,

In rolle bolle, players roll bolles — hard rubber disks with beveled edges — toward a stake at the far end of a dirt alley, and score points by getting the closest to the stake. Beyond that, there are some regional differences in how the game is played. Adam and Vanthournout said some of the rules, like the number of points in a game or the length of the alley, are different in different parts of the world.

But the camaraderie among rolle bolle players is the same, participants at Belgian American Days said. It’s brought a lot of them together.

Tyson Bergstrom said he had only been playing rolle bolle for about five years, but he liked traveling with his family for rolle bolle events.

“I always like making new friends,” he said.

Trudy Beckwith said she and her husband Dan first learned about rolle bolle from a group of players in Mesa, Arizona.

“We tried it out once,” she said. From then on, she said, “Both my husband and I were addicted.”

Beckwith said it was a challenge at first to get the hang of aiming the bolle, but she stuck with it. ”

It’s almost like a competition with yourself,” she said.

Beckwith said she was seeing a lot of familiar faces in Ghent.

“There are people here from Illinois and Iowa that we met for the first time down in Arizona,” she said. “It’s a great family.”

Players said local rolle bolle action wouldn’t end with Belgian American Days. This coming weekend, competitors will be taking part in an international rolle bolle tournament in Marshall and Ghent.