The highland games consist of two events, both requiring a lot more brawn that brain. If there are enough participants, they represent different countries, usually England, Scotland, and Ireland. Sometimes other countries, such as Germany, are represented.

The first event is performed by twirling a large ball connected to chain, called a weight, and tossing it as far as possible. The skill here is tossing it in the proper direction.

The second event is lifting and balancing a large telephone pole, called a caber, on one end, then tossing it forward. The object is to toss the caber high enough so that it will hit the ground on the other end and flip completely over, hopefully landing close to the twelve o’clock position.

Occasionally, the women will compete against each other. The only difference is that the caber is about two-thirds the size.