Pok-Tok
History
With city-states, tribes, races and worshippers of different dieties playing against one another, it's not surprising that the ball game take on a political significance. A win or a loss is very much taken to heart. At times, the game turns into an excuse for an assassination or attack. The game is also used to settle differences between two parties.
Huge wagers might be made by caciques as well. A story is told of two caciques, one wagering a garden, another wagering a marketplace. The marketplace was lost, but the winning cacique was assassinated when a contingency from the loser congratulated him. They gave him a garland, with a leather strangling cord hidden inside.
Execution
The teams faces each other on the court. The object is to get the ball through the stone hoop. This is extremely difficult, and so it actually happens the game ends without either team succeding with that. Another important rule is that the ball is never allowed to touch the ground. Players can't hold or even touch the ball with their hands - only the elbows, knees, hips and head are used. This makes for a very fast paced game, and the players have to constantly throw themselves against the surface of the court to keep the ball from landing. The players are skillful, and the ball can stay in the air for an hour or more.
Because it is hard to get the ball through the hoops, there are other objects as well. Players can hit one of the six markers along the sides of the court. Or, they can be given points for other skillful plays. Fouls are also given if the players can't get the ball across the centre line, or if they touch the ball with the wrong part of the body, such as the hand or calf.
During the ball game, gambling is common among the spectators. Gambling reach high levels and just about anything can be gambled, from ornate feathers to land to children. It is common for a person to actually sell themselves into slavery in order to pay off the debt. This is voluntary slavery, with some parallels to the way someone today would work at a job he or she doesn't like for years just to pay off a debt.
Components and tools
The ball court, called a Tlachco is shaped like an I. Around the court is a slope, surrounded at the outer edge by walls about 8-11 feet (2,5-3,5m) high. The court was usually between 100 and 200 feet (30-60m) long, with a centre line, and six markers along the sloping walls. At centre court against the walls were two stone-carved rings, roughly 35 inches (90cm) in diameter, often ornately carved in the form of an animal.
Surrounding the court are areas for spectators, nobles and of course behiques and caciques. The structure often include skull racks. These have a base with upright wood posts. Bars run from post to post, adorned with the skulls of former great players. Sometimes the walls show reliefs of the winners and losers of the past.
The ball, or ulli, is made of hard rubber and weigh about 9 pounds (4kg).
Due to the rough surface of the court itself, protective gear is worn by the players. Players wear deerskin guards for the chin, hip, thigh, hands, and cheeks. Even with this protection, players end the game bruised and bleeding, since they often have to throw themselves to the ground.
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