Highland games "Cowal Games", held in Dunoon, Scotland, every August, is the largest Highland games in the world, attracting around 3,500 competitors and somewhere in the region of 23,000 spectators from around the globe. Worldwide, however, it is exceeded in terms of spectators by two gatherings in the United States: the estimated 30,000 that attend Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina and the even larger gathering—the largest in the Northern Hemisphere—that has taken place every year since 1866. This event is currently held on Labor Day weekend in Pleasanton, California, and their Sesquicentennial Games held on September 5–6, 2015, attracted record crowds close
Inverness Highland Games was revived in 2013 much to the delight of the modern crowd of Games fans In 2006 Inverness hosted the Masters World Championships which was being held in Europe for the first time. In 2007 Inverness hosted the World Highland Games Heavy Championships which was being staged on Scottish soil for the first time since it was staged in Kilmarnock in 1995. The World Championship was won by Gregor Edmunds of Scotland with Larry Brock and Ryan Vierra of the USA finishing in second and third positions. In 2009 the Masters World Championships returned to Inverness for the second time