Patolli
One of the oldest games known from the Americas was Patolli (Patole, Spanish) of the Aztecs. Patolli is known to have been played by numerous Native American cultures throughout much of Mesoamerica (Aztec, Toltec, Maya, Zapotec, and Mixtec). Many details of the game were recorded by the Conquistadores as they saw it played at the first encounters of the Aztec nation in the mid 1500's CE. A large portion of the details of the game, however, were soon to be lost in the wake of cultural destruction and genocide of the Aztecs that was soon to follow. In the minds of the conquistadores, the game came to be associated with idolatry and non-Christian values and many game boards and game pieces were systematically destroyed. There are records of Spanish priests burning the hands of people caught playing the game after it was forbidden.
It is known that Pattolli was often, if not always, a game of gambling. Players would not only wager blankets, gold and jewels, but also wager them self or their family into slavery or even human sacrifice. It was a two-player race game, but the many spectators may have offered advice to their favored player or one they had formed a team with. Each player had six counters and the two sides were marked red and blue. Five binary dice of beans with a hole drilled in one side were used. After players vigorously rubbed the beans in their hands, they threw them on the playing mat, yelling out the name of the Mexican god of gambling, “Macuilxochitl.” The respective moving power given for each different throw of the binary dice is known with some degree of certainty and is given in the following table:
The method of entry, route of the counters, and significance of the black triangles on the board is not known. Many reconstructions of the game have been made and it seems easy to come up with a viable alternative.
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