Fifty-five students have raised the bar for Gold Horn Elementary School's Annual Hand Games Tournament.

On Friday, the school hosted its largest hand games or stick gambling tournament, which featured nine teams in total.

Teams came from Elijah Smith Elementary, Jack Hulland Elementary and Hidden Valley Elementary.

All of the participating schools had two teams, with the exception of Jack Hulland, which sent three.

When all was said and done it was Elijah Smith Elementary School that came out the big winners, taking gold, while one of Jack Hulland's squads finished in second place and tournament host Golden Horn brought home a bronze medal.

Historically, hand games were played by many first nation groups. The rules can vary depending on the group playing, but it usually features two teams of the same size that face off against each other.

On Friday, a player hid a stick in one hand and a stone in the other. The captain on the other team chose which hand they thought the stick was in and the winner was the team that collected all of its opponents sticks.

A round robin practice session was held in the morning and the tournament ended with a double elimination round in afternoon.

The purpose was to expose the kids to first nations culture.

"I was pleasantly surprised and it was a good turnout," said Marc Senecal, co-ordinator of the Golden Horn Hand Games Tournament. "It's great to because it's not specifically for Grade 7s and most elementary tournaments are geared towards the Grade 7s, this one is open to (all students), (it's) just a matter if you are able to play or not."

Kassi Wright, 12, was the co-captain of Golden Horn's bronze medal winning team. This was the first time Wright has competed in a hand games tournament. She said she had a lot of fun.

"It was just nice to meet new people and see how they played the game."

Kris McKay, 11, was the captain of bronze medal team. McKay is no stranger to playing in a hand games competition and said he remembered certain habits from some of his competitors that helped with the team's success on Friday.

In the past, teams have come from Teslin and Carcross.

Senecal said it would be nice if next year there were even more participants and hopes one day each Whitehorse elementary school will have at least one team.