Games were always part of every Kyrgyz celebration — weddings, Nooruz, even memorial feasts. Most of them grew out of nomad life, which demanded strength, courage and perfect riding skills. The favourite games, then and now, are on horseback.
Kyrgyzstan created the World Nomad Games, an international festival of these sports, and hosted them in 2014, 2016 and 2018 on the shores of Issyk-Kul. After editions in Turkey (2022) and Kazakhstan (2024), the 6th World Nomad Games returned to Kyrgyzstan in 2026, with athletes from dozens of countries.
Kok-boru — the ‘grey wolf’ game
Kok-boru (also called ulak-tartysh) is the most famous and the wildest of the games. Two teams of riders fight for a goat carcass of 30–40 kg and try to throw it into the opponent’s goal. It is fast, rough and spectacular.
Its name means ‘grey wolf’. The game is said to come from the days when wolves attacked the herds and riders chased them across the steppe, snatching the exhausted animal from each other. Later the wolf was replaced by a goat.
Kok-boru is played across Central Asia; in 2017 UNESCO recognised the Kyrgyz tradition as Intangible Cultural Heritage. You can see matches at Nooruz (21 March), on Independence Day (31 August), at many village festivals and on our tours by arrangement.
Horse races and riding games
- At-chabysh — long-distance horse racing, the oldest of the sports. Races were once run over 50 versts and later 100 km; today distances range from about 4 to 50 km. Trainers (sayapker) prepare their horses for months, and experts judge a horse’s fitness by its muscles, breathing and stride.
- Jorgo-salysh — a race of amblers, horses with a smooth two-beat pace. A good jorgo is a rider’s pride: ‘If you have one day to live, spend half of it riding an ambler’, says a Kyrgyz proverb.
- Oodarysh — wrestling on horseback. Two riders try to pull each other out of the saddle.
- Tyiyn-enmei — at full gallop, the rider leans down and picks a coin off the ground.
- Kyz-kuumai — ‘catch the girl’. A young man chases a young woman on horseback and tries to catch up with her and touch her; if he fails, they turn round and she chases him back with a whip. Once a wedding game, it is now a festival favourite.
- Kyz jaryshy — horse races for girls and young women over 2–4 km. Kyrgyz women ride from childhood.
- Jamby atmai — shooting at a target from a galloping horse, once with a bow and arrow.
Games on foot
- Kuresh — belt wrestling. The wrestlers hold each other’s belts and may not let go; the winner throws his opponent onto his back.
- Ordo — a team game with sheep knucklebones (chuko): players try to knock the opponents’ bones out of a large circle. It appears in the Manas epic, where young Manas is playing ordo when enemy spies find him.
- Upai — another knucklebone game, played on a felt carpet, in which teams collect sets of three bones.
- Alty bakan — a swing on six poles where a young man and woman swing together while their friends hold a singing contest.
Hunting with eagles and falcons
Kyrgyzstan is one of the last places in the world where golden eagles and falcons are still used for real hunting. The hunters, berkutchi, take a young eagle from the nest or catch a young bird and train it for months — first on a fox skin pulled on a rope, then on live hares, and later on foxes. They often hunt together with the taigan, the Kyrgyz sighthound, which flushes the game.
Holding a golden eagle on your arm and feeling its weight and the grip of its talons is unforgettable. Demonstrations of eagle and falcon hunting are held at festivals and in villages on the south shore of Issyk-Kul, around Bokonbaevo — we include them on several tours.
Read next: the Manas epic, Kyrgyz customs & hospitality, or browse our horse riding tours.
