11 Facts About Mesoamerican ballgame

Mesoamerican ballgame was a sport with ritual associations played since at least 1650 BC by the pre-Columbian people of Ancient Mesoamerica.

Rules of the Mesoamerican ballgame are not known, but judging from its descendant, ulama, they were probably similar to racquetball, where the aim is to keep the ball in play.

Mesoamerican ballgame had important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames were held as ritual events.

One candidate for the birthplace of the Mesoamerican ballgame is the Soconusco coastal lowlands along the Pacific Ocean.

Mesoamerican ballgame reported that players were even killed when the ball "hit them in the mouth or the stomach or the intestines".

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The Late Classic site of El Tajin, the largest city of the Mesoamerican ballgame-obsessed Classic Veracruz culture, has at least 18 ballcourts, and Cantona, a nearby contemporaneous site, sets the record with 24.

Mesoamerican ballgame was a ritual deeply ingrained in Mesoamerican cultures and served purposes beyond that of a mere sporting event.

Decapitation is particularly associated with the Mesoamerican ballgame—severed heads are featured in much Late Classic Mesoamerican ballgame art and appear repeatedly in the Popol Vuh.

Mesoamerican ballgame's brother uses a squash as Hunahpu's substitute head until his real one, now used as a ball by the Lords, can be retrieved and placed back on Hunahpu's shoulders.

The ballcourt markers along the centerline of the Classic playing field depicted ritual and mythical scenes of the Mesoamerican ballgame, often bordered by a quatrefoil that marked a portal into another world.

Aztec version of the Mesoamerican ballgame is called ollamalitzli and are derived from the word olli "rubber" and the verb ollama or "to play ball".