Tug of war works best with a judge to co-ordinate each tug. The judge can either divide the competitors into two equally weighted teams or let them pick sides.

To play, you will need a long piece of rope. You'll need to make sure it isn't too rough on the hands and is both long enough and strong enough to take all your competitors. Attach a ribbon or a t-shirt to the mid point of the rope and mark two spots on the ground a metre or two (3 to 6 feet) either side of the mid point.

Once the teams are lined up on either side of the rope the tug can be started by the judge calling "pick up the rope", "take the strain", "steady" and "pull". At this point both teams try to tug the mid point of the rope over their marker. The longer each tug, the more fun, so keep changing the teams around until you get the perfect balance of weights and skills.

Once you've enjoyed our play-at-home Highland Games why not see the real events held around Scotland and the world. Most events will include the old favourites like Tossing the Caber alongside music, dancing and great food.

For a list of Highland Games around Scotland go to Visit Scotland's Highland Games Calendar

To find out more about the history of the highland games and about individual events see Wikipedia's Highland Games page

To find out about highland games around the world go to cmana.net.