The ball game was a common activity right across Mesoamerica: there have been over 600 ball courts found in Mexico alone, and it is believed that there are many others yet to be found. There have been slight variations of the game identified from region to region, but generally they have pretty much the same concept. The Olmecs are attributed as the inventors of the ball game, and the ball itself, around 3000 BCE (they were the first people to cultivate the rubber tree, which gave them their Nahuatl name of Olmec, "the people who use rubber" ).

The ballgame took place in a court, or tlachco, that was usually in a plaza in a Mayan city. These courts could vary in size, but were usually framed by two parallel walls, built at a low slope at the bottom so that the ball would bounce upward and remain airborne, and inset with three round marker-disks or a single stone ring, positioned at several metres above and at right angles to the ground. The exact use of the marker-disks around the court is uncertain, but hitting them with the ball may have earned points, and the players probably scored "goals" by passing the ball through the rings. Obviously this wasn't easy... scoring was considered such a feat that it usually ended the game

This game was so important only nobility could participate. Two opposing teams (the number of players depended on the region where the game was played) faced each other from opposite sides of the open court; the ball was bounced off the players and off the stone walls, all in a fast-paced action that made the game exciting for the spectators to watch. Rival individuals or teams usually hailed from different cities; when a team visited another city, the ruler followed to watch the game, which could be used to satisfy political demands and bring about negotiations.

The rubbery ball (about 50 cm in diameter and weighing more than a kilo) was resilient and bouncy, yet hard enough to severely injure a player. The players had to keep the ball in the air, but touching the ball with the hands or feet was not allowed- instead they had to use hips, body, legs or arms to knock the ball in different directions and bounce it off each other *ouch*. This meant that players would wear protective padding as well as their finest regalia for the game!

The captain or coach of the defeated team, by the fate of the gods, was chosen to die; the Maya, Aztecs and the Huaxtecs all performed a ritual decapitation of the loser with an obsidian knife, in the tradition carried on from the Olmecs. But... other interpretations argue that the winners were in fact the ones worthy of this highly esteemed ritual death.

Apart from being a thrilling spectator sport, the ball game had a ritualistic function for the ancient Maya and was integral to Mayan cosmology and creation. But that's a whole new ballgame (forgive the pun)....