Thousands of people gathered in the town of Macklin over the August Long Weekend to take in the exciting games of Bunnock.

There was a total of 1,200 people competing in the games throughout the weekend with kids from the ages of 10-12 all the way to the ages 80-97 years old. A game truly for all ages made for an exciting atmosphere as over five thousand people came in to watch the action.

Even with periods of rain and cloudy skies, the entire weekend was still a lot of fun and the participants still enjoyed themselves to the fullest.

John Feser, Board of Committee member and attendee, talked about what Bunnock is all about and explained how the game works

"It originated in North Russia, the soldiers were looking for entertainment. Somehow, it was created. It is a game where you use the past-turn bone from a horse where you have 52 bones spread out with twenty soldiers, two guards on the end and eight throwers. Four members on a team that each throws two bones, and the first team that knocks down all of the objects first is the winner."

All of the bones are completely original bones that are placed in the ground for a long time before they are taken out and washed to be used specificialy for this tournament.

Feser also commented on what this tournament means to the people of Macklin.

"It's been the greatest single event in this community. The first year we began at 72 teams, and now we have maxed out at 320 teams for the past five years. We have a lot of locals that participate, as well as all over Alberta, and even teams come from Japan and Europe."

Out of the 320 teams that began playing games, the final featured the teams of Errol Reichert taking on Val Baier.