The Patolli

The word patolli means beans, specifically the colorines (a red small kind). The colorines or patolli were used as chips and gave this game its name.

Patolli is one of the most ancient games in prehispanic Latin America. It was played by Teotihuacanos (200 BC - 1000 A.D.), Toltecas (750 - 1000 A.D), the inhabitants of Chichen-Itza (1100 - 1300 A.D.), the Aztecs (1168 - 1521 A.D.) and all the groups conquered by the latter. With the Spaniards´arrival, the patolli was played in Mexico, as it is showed in the codexes and in the writings of the chroniclers. We know, for example, from the Magliabecci Codex the patolli was a chance game. It apparently had a ceremonial and religious aspect which sense has not been clarified. It can be supposed that there are elements that point out the coincidence between the games and some elements of the Aztec cosmogony: the time cycle of the Aztecs is based on a 52-year measure which is the same number of squares in the game. There are four cardinal points as well as four players on a board with four sides.

The Magliabecci Codex says: The God of the patolli was Macuilxochitl, five Flower, which the players called upon before the game. In their homes, they offered incense and food to their protector deity and the game instruments before going out to play. The patolli and the ullamaliztli had a chance aspect: the big bets of players and audience -blankets, maguey plants, gold beads, and precious stones. There were those who even bet themselves and if they lost, they were made slaves until they covered the debt.

Fray Diego Duran describes how before the game started, incense was burned or promises were made to the dice. After that the players felt completely secure of success. This is especially understood due to the value of the objects in danger. While playing they invoked the help of Macuilxochitl.

The patolli was forbidden during the Conquest because it was considered dangerous, idolatrous and pagan. The hands of the players were burned if they were caught practicing the game. Such is the importance the Christian power gave to this game and entertainment, which had a sacred origin for the natives. The patolli is played on a board with a diagonal shape form divided in blue or red squares. Four or five marked beans are used as dice. In order to imagine the board we can think of the impression Alexander Van Humboldt had who compared it with the Parchis (or parquesse), a game of Hindu origin.

The game is of chance and strategy. To participate, the players must make their bets and the rule is that none of them can bet beyond their possibilities. The goal is to get the objects bet by the opponent. That is possible after going through all 52 squares placed on a cross form on a petate (a straw mat) and occupying each of them with colored stones which are moved according to the numbered indicated by the marked beans thrown in each player's turn. Whoever goes through the whole circuit with his chips wins the game along with all the objects gotten from the opponent. The game ends with the opponent's death and the loss of the bet belongings.

There is an electronic game of patolli created by American Parley Steve Neeley, which can be consulted in:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PSNeeley/aztecpat.htm
http://www.rocketdownload.com/Details/Puzz/patolli.htm