Founded 25 years ago, the Butler Bocce Association is still going strong — mainly because its founders are still going strong.

Dom Bonefeste, 85, started the organization, which debuted with approximately 25 members nearly 25 years ago and has 45 participants now.

"I guess I', the pioneer of this,"Bonefeste said of the organization. "I learned the game from my parents. It's an Italian game and I grew up in an Italian family."

Bonefeste has been playing bocce for 65 years and is the most experienced player in the group. Bruno Zaccala, 80, has been playing for more than 50 years.

The association gets together twice a week — at 6:30 p.m. Mondays and 1 p.m. Wednesdays — to play games on the bocce court located on the lower level of Alameda Park.

Another bocce court is at Memorial Park, but the association isn't playing there this year.

"With baseball and football games always going on over there, parking became a problem,"member Mike Salak said.

The names of the original founders of the Butler Bocce Association are listed on a sign next to the Alameda court. There were 22 members at the time and nine are now deceased.

Many of the other 13 — Bonefeste, Homer Brown, Al Davis, Ken Eichenlaub, Elmer Green, "Red" Grendel, Paul Isabella, "Gabby"Lucas, "Turk"Nocera, "Izzy"Polanec, Tom Sherman, John Skrzypek and Zuccala — remain active with the club.

Sherman is the president of the organization.

The price is right to play bocce. The entertainment value and camaraderie are priceless.

"I'm surprised more people don't do this," said Ed Albert of Center Township, an association member for five years. "I picked up on the game in Florida and played for nine years down there.

"It's good company and it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to play. It's free, in fact."

The association has a flower fund for when a member dies. While no one pays to play, a 50-50 drawing is put together on each game day. The money saved from the 50-50 is used to put on a picnic at the end of each season.

"We're just one big happy family, really, and anyone is welcome to join," Salak, 82, of Lyndora said.

The bocce court is 60 by 8 feet and its surface is prepared for play before each outing. The sand base is scraped to make it level, then rolled to make it smooth.

The association plays twice a week outdoors from April through November. It plays once a week indoors at Charlie's Place, an establishment on the east side of New Castle.

"When we first came out this year, we had to take a blower and blow all the leaves off the court,"Salak said.

The average age of association members is in the low 60s, causing concern for its long-term future.

"It's hard to get people to come out,"said Joe Kisiel of Butler, a member for 10 years. "It's a shame. Everyone is invited and it's a fun game to play."

Anyone wishing to play need only show up at the Alameda court on game day.

Bocce can be played individually, in teams of two or four. The pallino — a small white ball — is rolled down the court first. Each team then rolls for bigger balls, with the object being to get as close to the pallino as possible.

"There's a lot of strategy involved,"Bonefeste said. "You have to play as a team. Sometimes you play defense, sometimes you have to knock the other guy's ball away."

Bonefeste said the association has only seven women. One of those is Angie Sasse, a member for two years.

"I'm a bowler and I thought this game would be similar, but it's not,"Sasser said. "When I started playing bocce, I'd whale the ball down the court ... That didn't work.

"It's a game of precision, of strategy. I needed to develop some touch to my shots.

"I come for the camaraderie. This is a great group of people to be around,"she added.

The Butler Bocce Association has helped with the sport at Special Olympic events and members have worked with Sunnyview (nursing home) residents on the game.

Kisiel found about about the game through a neighbor, Bob Sinz, a longtime association member who died recently.

"I golf once a week and play bocce," he said. "It's a little exercise and it gets you outdoors. It's not a physically taxing game ... You don't have to run or anything."

First team to score 12 points wins.

"Then it's time to play again,"Bonefeste said, smiling.