Patolli or patole is one of the oldest known games in America. It was a game of strategy and luck, played by commoners and nobles alike. It was reported by the conquistadors that Montezuma often enjoyed watching his nobles play the game at court.
History
Patolli or variants of it was played by a wide range of pre-ColumbianMesoamerican cultures and known all over Mesoamerica: the Teotihuacanos played it as well as the Toltecs, the inhabitants of Chichen Itza, the Aztecs, and all of the people they conquered. The ancient Mayans also played a version of patolli. Anthropologist E. Adamson Hoebel says the Aztec patolli derives from the East Indian game of pachisi, but R.B. Lewis of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois says that the two games were independently developed and that the similarity between them is merely due to the limitations of a board game.
Players
Patolli is a race/war game with a heavy focus on gambling. Players would meet and inspect the items each other had available to gamble. They would bet blankets, maguey plants, precious stones, gold adornments, food or, in extreme cases, their homes and sometimes their family and freedom. Agreeing to play against someone was not done casually as the winner of the game would ultimately win all of the opponent's store of offerings. Each player must have the same number of items to bet at the beginning of the game. The typical number of items to bet is six, because each player has six markers ; although any number would be acceptable as long as each player agreed. Once an agreement is made to play, the players prepare themselves by invoking the god of games, Macuilxochitl.
Game pieces
Five black beans are used as dice. Each bean has one side marked with a hole; thus, tossing the black beans will result in some showing this white mark and others showing a blank side. Dice could also be used, but the rules in this article are for the version that uses beans. The game pieces are six red and six blue pebbles; each player controlled one color as their set of game markers. Beans, kernels of maize or even pieces of jade could also be used. The game board has 52 squares arranged in an "X" shape. The game board was traditionally painted with liquid rubber or drawn on a bit of leather or a straw mat and decorated with colored dye, or carved into the floor or a tabletop.
Gameplay
The object of patolli is to move six game pieces to the end of a board composed of specially-marked squares. In order to complete a round, a player must get all six of their game markers from their starting queue to the ending square on the game board before the other player. The ultimate goal of the game is for a player to win all of the opponent's treasure; to do this, the players may need to play more than one round of the game.
Movement
The players take turns tossing the beans onto the game area. In order for a player to get one of their markers on the game board, one bean would have to land with its hole face up and all the others face down. Once a player has done so, the player places one of their game markers from their starting queue onto the starting square of the game board. If a player already has a marker on the game board, they can move it forward the same number of spaces as there are holes showing from the toss. A toss showing five holes, however, allows the player to move their marker ten spaces forward. If the player cannot move any of their markers because they would overshoot the ending square or land on a spot occupied by either player, they lose their turn.
Special areas
There are several specially-marked areas on the game board:
The four squares in the middle of the X: Landing on an opponent's marker in this area is allowed, and if a player does so, the opponent's marker is removed from the game board and put back into the opponent's starting queue. The opponent is then required to give up one of their treasures to the landing player.
The two dark triangular spaces near the end of each arm of the X: If a player lands on one of these triangular spaces, the player must give up one of their treasures to the opponent.
The two squares at the end of each arm of the X: A player who lands on one of these squares takes another turn.
Ending the round
If a player's marker reaches the ending square by exact count, the marker is removed from the board and the opponent must give up one of their treasures to the player. The round is over once one player gets all six of their markers off the board this way. If no player has won the game, players must play another round.
Ending the game
As soon as a player has won all of their opponent's treasures, the game is over and that player is the winner. In addition, if a toss results in all the beans standing on their sides, the tosser automatically wins all the goods bet by both parties.
Macuilxochitl's role in the game
According to the Magliabechiano codex, the god Macuilxochitl was considered to be participating in the game. To represent this, there is a special area near the game board reserved for offerings to Macuilxochitl. A player must place one of their treasures into this space each time their toss results in a score of zero. The winner of the round receives all the treasure from this space as a gift from Macuilxochitl.
Spanish Conquest
The Spanish priests forbade the game during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, possibly due to people selling themselves and their families into slavery over it. They were even known to have burned the hands of people caught playing the game.
