I have always found it fascinating to draw parallels between little life events and big conclusions and phenomena. You can re-write history– and it’s been done more than a few times – by burning libraries and chasing people with opinions differing from the one in favour of whoever is in power. But there are some things you can’t erase so easily. Folklore for example can give you an insight into the real daily life of people for any specific time you look into. The songs (popular or not so much) we are writing and signing today will be what the future generations will look at and imagine us and our values (yeah, someone will have to explain Justin Bieber, I know, don’t look at me). In a similar way you can look at games – what and how people were playing can tell you a whole lot about their life back in the days.

So I thought it is only logical to look at what games did the object of my fascination – the Mayans – play. I did some research and it turns out they did indeed play games (bah, of course they did, who doesn’t!).
A very popular game was the Ball Game (you would see it as one word in some researches, so Ballgame). It is a team game, played on a court. People were betting on the results and this one was more of a game for the nobles, leading soldiers and commoners were allowed mostly just as players. Funny to compare that to football in the modern days huh? It’s more like the players are the nobles now (I bet, with those 6 digits’ salaries!), isn’t it? Things sure change somewhat with time!
The most beloved game though, was a game called Patolli. It is a table game with a race/war theme and a focus on gambling. The players would meet and check out the items each one has to offer to qualify to play. They were betting anything – from plants, precious stones and metals, amulets and animals to their houses, (are you sitting?) family members and even their own freedom! (I mean…I love a gamble just like anyone, but that’s a bit extreme, no? What do I know.)
Early pictures of patolli would depict players in pairs but more detailed research and later evidence showed that it could be played by more people at the same time. The goal was to come first in moving a set of pebbles from one end of the board to the other. Patolli was often played on a mat or a board, simply drawn on the floor or ground. The board was divided in 60 or 70 places for the little stones. The places were of four different kinds and each had a distinct effect on the pebbles’ progress. The moves were linked to the results of tossing a dice. The dice was often made of dried beans. Funny fact is that the game bingo owes its name to the commonly known seed. When the game got popular in the USA, it was known as “Beano” since it was played with dried beans too, a rubber stamp, and cardboard sheets. According to the story, people would get so excited winning that they’d shout Bingo! Instead of Beano, so this is how the well-known name came about. So (phew! What a turn!) to answer my own question – even though the Mayans did play quite a few (and very interesting) gambling related games, bingo was not one of them. But they still had something in common. Who could’ve guessed that beans were involved in not one, but at least two favourite games! At this rate I might just have to dedicate some posts to agriculture! Wait and see my dear readers, wait and see! In the meantime, if you are like me stuck in rainy Britain, you can certainly brighten your day with a game online. I did actually try (with sadly no luck) to find some equivalent of the two ancient games I mentioned online. Luckily though, some of the best bingo sites are from the UK, so you can try your luck with them. Don’t be shy to share your experience and if you come across anything Mayans related – give me a shout! That’s all from me for now, adios my friends, until we meet again!