World Bunnock Championship

Macklin, SK

Origins

History of Bunnock

A game born of boredom and bone, perfected on the prairie, and crowned every August in Macklin.

  1. Early 1800s

    01 Bones on frozen ground

    The most-told origin puts Russian soldiers in northern Siberia, far from home and short on pastimes. Horseshoes needed pegs the tundra would not take. Horse anklebones stood upright on the ice — and a throwing game was born.

  2. Early 1900s

    02 Across the prairie

    Russian-German immigrants carried the game to western Saskatchewan. On farmyards around Macklin, families played with real horse bones — a backyard ritual that outlasted the seasons.

  3. 1993

    03 The World Championship

    Macklin’s Chamber of Commerce launched the first World Bunnock Championship on the August long weekend. The town has nearly doubled every year since, crowning champions on the courts at Macklin Lake Regional Park.

Still going strong

Every August a new team writes its chapter on the Macklin courts — and the whole town shows up to watch.

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