Ball Courts
Daily Life in the Maya Empire

Each Maya city had at least one huge ball court similar to the stadiums we have today. Tiers of bleacher seating surrounded each open air ball court. Ball courts and the games played within them were important to the Maya people. People poured in from the surrounding areas each time a game was played in a nearby city. Games were always played during the religious festivals held every 20 days. 

Honoring the Gods: Ball courts were usually positioned at the foot of a temple. Ball games had religious meanings. Games were played to honor the Hero Twins and other Maya gods and goddesses.

The Game: Courts had a large playing area. There was a stone hoop mounted in the wall at one end. The Mayas used the ball courts to play a ball game they called pok-a-tok. It was a very rough sport.

Pok-a-tok is a mix of soccer, basketball, and kick ball.  It was played with a solid hard rubber ball. You could not hit the ball with your hands. It had to be hit with the hips, shoulders, or arms. The object of the game was to hit the rubber ball through the stone ring that was attached to the wall at one end of the court. Ball players wore protective clothing when playing.

Winners: When playing games among themselves, or against other Maya cities, the winning team got to keep the jewelry of the losing team.

Losers: Some games were played with captives, people from other Indian tribes that Maya warriors had captured. These games were of great interest to the Maya people. Poorly fed, exhausted, beaten captives made up one team, and professional Maya ball players made up the other. The beaten captives always lost these games. After they lost, they were sacrificed.

Mesoamerica Ball Game 

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