WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The sport of bocce brought people of all ages together in West Springfield Tuesday night.

The regional bocce playoffs kicked off over at the Dante Club. Playoffs started Tuesday night and will run for the next five weeks. Games will take place every Tuesday night from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with the championship set for May.

22News stopped by the club to see how the competition started rolling.

“It’s a beautiful sports world. You can get an 87-year-old to play with his 50-year-old son and 27-year-old son on the same team,” said Rico Danielle, author of Bocce: A Sport for Everyone. “We also have a man here, Tony Calvaneese, he played with us until he was 99 years old. He’s 103 years old and still comes and watches. And no matter what nationality, we’re all the same, we got to help each other make this world a better place and bocce is one way to do that.”

The United States Bocce Federation says Egyptians played a form of the game as early as 5,000 B.C.