The player must lift the stone, which is lying in front of him, to the height of the arms and then throw it ahead. It should be remembered that all the players never lift stones at once, but in turn. Two judges take part in the competition: one measures the time and the other judges if the stone has been lifted correctly. Very often the audience, like the number of hits in the volleyball, screams how many times the stone has been lifted. There are two rules of the game: in the first the game wins the person who lifted the stone the most times at the specified time. In the second one players lift heavier and heavier stones – in this case, the winner is the one who lifts the heaviest stone.

All competitions and tournaments are held in four categories. Each one uses stones of different shapes and masses (traditionally, they are given in arobs, 1 arroba = 12.5 kg):
a) zilindroa (cylinder) - 8-10 arroba (100-125 kg),
b) laukizuzena (rectangle) - 10-17 arroba (125-212.5 kg),
c) kuboa (cube) - 10-17 arroba (125-212.5 kg),
d) bibibila (sphere) - 9-10 arroba (112.5-125 kg).

Natural stone is the most commonly used, although the best material for stones is considered to be dark graphite, mined near the cities of Zumarraga and Lastur in Gipuzkoa (Spanish province that is one of the province creators of the autonomous Basque Country) – also known as harri beltza.