Naadam has been registered with the Intangible Heritage Fund of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Naadam festival is celebrated between July 11 and 13^th throughout the whole country. The festival is also locally termed "eriin gurvan naadam” which means “three manly games". The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery. Women have started participating in the archery and girls in the horse-racing games, but not in Mongolian wrestling.

Wrestling - 512 or 1024 wrestlers meet in a single-elimination tournament that lasts nine or ten rounds. Mongolian traditional wrestling is an untimed competition in which wrestlers lose if they touch the ground with any part of their body other than their feet or hand At the start of competition all the wrestlers with the higher title - holder in front , enter the hall in a line wearing gutuls (decorated Mongolian boots. ) and hats and their wrestling costumes called "zodog"(an open fronted , long sleeves vest of silk) and "shuudag"(tight short trunks ). There are many different titles for the wrestlers such as Titan (avarge), Lion (arslan). Zaan and Falcon. All the names signify strength. Titles are mostly confirmed during the national festival Naadam. A wrestler who wins five fights in succession during one competition has the right to have the title of Falcon, and if he wins seven fights in succession Elephant. When a wrestler wins all the fights in a competition during one of these festivals he will be a Lion. If he wins a subsequent year he merits the title of titan, the highest rank. The main difference between Mongolian national wrestling and international free style wrestling is that the weight category of wrestlers is not taken into consideration.

Horse racing. Mongolian people have loved horse racing since time immemorial. A whole system for conducting the contests has developed over the centuries. In the races held during national festivals, including Naadam, participants are six age groups and the distances range from 15-30kms. The length of each race is determined by age class. Up to 1000 horses from any part of Mongolia can be chosen to participate. Race horses are fed a special diet. Children from 5 to 13 are chosen as jockeys who train in the months preceding the races. While jockeys are an important component, the main purpose of the races is to test the skill of the horses. Before they start the riders sing an ancient war-like song -Giingoo. The competitors start at the finishing line and at the signal to start and back to the finish line. The top five horses in each class earn the title of airgiyn tav and the top three are given gold, silver, and bronze medals. The horse that finishes last in the Daaga race (two-year-old horses race) is called bayan khodood (meaning "full stomach"). A song is sung to the Bayan khodood wishing him luck to be next year's winner.

Archery: the third element of the national games is archery. In this competition both men and women participate.It is played by ten-men/women teams who are given four arrows each.  The team has to hit 33 "surs". Men fire their arrows from 75 meters away while women fire theirs from 60 meters away. When the archer hits the target the judge says uuhai which means "hooray". The winners of the contest are granted the titles of "national marksman" and "national markswoman". Arrows are usually made from pine wood and had feather fins which help the arrow to reach distance of 900 meters. Naadam archery also attracts individual archers as well as Teams of 8-12 people. Every male archer has forty arrows to shot at each target. The judges dressed in national attire, stand by the targets with hands held up after the arrows have been shot. They praise the best shot in a drawing recitative voice. The contests are accompanied by colorful national rites. Before the competition starts you hear the recitative song "uukhai', calling on the archers to be good marksmen and hit the target.