The Yorkshire Meds, crowned best of the best at the annual British & World Marbles Championship in Sussex, features five members of a Leeds family.

They beat 24 teams from as far afield as Australia to storm to victory in the outdoor contest, won by the Germans for most of the past decade.

Mourad Kara, who founded the team and has a concrete marbles ring in his back garden, said they were so proud to be bringing the trophy to Yorkshire for the first time in the tournament's 76-year history.

The 44-year-old father-of-three, of Chapel Allerton, said: "The most important thing is to enjoy ourselves – this is fun, but it's serious fun.

"We would rather lose and enjoy ourselves than win and not enjoy ourselves. Being a big kid at heart again – that's what it's about."

He said after their win he had proudly asked his son and team-mate Aziz: "How often do you get chance to play with your parents and grandad in one team and win the world title?"

Competing teams took to the six-feet diameter ring for a series of knock-out rounds in which players – known as shooters – take turns to roll a glass ball at the 49 target marbles in the middle, aiming to knock them out of the ring.

The winning team is the first to knock 25 out.

The Yorkshire Meds, consisting of Mourad, his wife Leila, Aziz, 15, family friend Bob Croft, Mourad's brother-in-law Halim Tata and his father-in-law Akil Tata, practised furiously for the three weeks before the competition, honing their skills with around 17 hours training each week.

And while five of the six live in Leeds, 67-year-old Akil flies over from Algeria every year specially for the contest, which they have competed in since 2004.

Mourad played marbles as a child growing up in Algeria but they played a different game there.

He came to Leeds 22 years ago to study at the University of Leeds and formed his team in 2004 after learning of the annual tournament and deciding it would be more fun participating than watching.

The village where it takes place, near Crawley, is said to be the scene in Elizabethan times of an epic marbles battle over the hand of a local maiden.

Mourad said: "As well as having fun it's also about preserving some old traditions – we may see some of these games disappear."

He said most people made the inevitable joke about "losing your marbles" but almost everyone had fond memories of playing marbles as a youngster.

On top of their overall victory, Mrs Kara won the best female player award and her brother Halim best individual player.