Mayan Games
The Mayans had many games and two of them were "Pok-a-tok" and "Bul".
Bul
Bul was mainly a game of pure chance. The board was made of fifteen kernels of corn which were put in one row; they then used the fourteen spaces in between the corn for the actual play. Then they burnt one side of four pieces of corn to use as dice. When they threw the corn to figure out the score they counted the burnt side but if the corn all landed with no burnt sides the player got a score of five. Each player gets five game pieces which can be represented with anything. Each player gets one piece on each side of the board. Each player was allowed to throw the dice two times in a row. Once they reached the other side of the board they turned around and started back the other way. The object of the game was to land on the opponents spot then you would have captured the opponent and he would have no way to free himself/herself. If you were playing in teams your partner wouldn’t be able to capture you but if you were captured by the opponent your partner could land on your captive and drag both of you to the end of the board then you would be free to go and your opponent’s piece would be out.
Pok-a-tok
Unlike
the game of Bul, Pok-a-tok was taken very seriously and only the best of athletes could
play. It was a combination of Soccer, Basketball, Racquetball, and Volleyball. It was
played with a six inch rubber ball and a hoop which was placed vertically, could barely
fit the ball in it and was placed twenty to thirty feet above the ground. The object was
not only to get the ball in the hoop but to also keep the ball in motion. They did this
with any part of their body except their hands. It was taken so seriously that only
Priests could coach teams. Unlike our sports now the losing team of Pok-a-tok was
executed.