Patolli () or patole () is one of the oldest known

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

s in America. It was a game of strategy and luck played by commoners and nobles alike. It was reported by the

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

s that

Moctezuma Xocoyotzin Moctezuma Xocoyotzin ( – 29 June 1520; oteːkˈsoːmaḁ ʃoːkoˈjoːt͡sĩn̥), nci-IPA, Motēuczōmah Xōcoyōtzin, moteːkʷˈsoːma ʃoːkoˈjoːtsin variant spellings include Motewksomah, Motecuhzomatzin, Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecu ...

often enjoyed watching his nobles play the game at court.

History

Patolli and its variants were played by a wide range of

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

n cultures and were known all over Mesoamerica: it was played by the Teotihuacanos (the builders of

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...

, ca. 200 BC - 650 AD), the

Toltec The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

s (ca. 750 - 1000), the inhabitants of

Chichen Itza Chichen Itza , es, Chichén Itzá , often with the emphasis reversed in English to ; from yua, Chiʼchʼèen Ìitshaʼ () "at the mouth of the well of the Itza people" was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal ...

(founded by refugee Toltec nobles, ca. 1100 - 1300), the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

s (who claimed Toltec descent, 1168 - 1521) and all of the people they conquered (practically all of Mesoamerica, including the Zapotecs and the

Mixtec The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec Culture wa ...

s). The ancient

Mayans The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical reg ...

also played a version of patolli. Anthropologists

Edward Burnett Tylor Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (2 October 18322 January 1917) was an English anthropologist, and professor of anthropology. Tylor's ideas typify 19th-century cultural evolutionism. In his works '' Primitive Culture'' (1871) and ''Anthropology'' ...

(1896) and

E. Adamson Hoebel E. Adamson Hoebel (1906–1993) was Regents Professor Emeritus of anthropology at the University of Minnesota. Having studied under Franz Boas, he held a PhD in anthropology from Columbia University. There he also attended the seminars of Karl N. ...

(1966) believed the Aztec patolli derives from the East Indian game of

pachisi Pachisi (, Hindustani: əˈtʃiːsiː is a cross and circle board game that originated in Ancient India. It is described in the ancient text ''Mahabharata'' under the name of "Pasha". It is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross. A ...

, but R.B. Lewis of the Department of Anthropology at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

(1988) contends that the two games were independently developed and that the similarity between them is merely due to the limitations of a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

.Lewis, R. B. (1988). Old World dice in protohistoric United States. In ''Current Anthropology. 29''(5) pg.766

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 Maguey may refer to various American plants: * Genus ''Agave'', especially ** Species ''Agave americana'', the century plant ** Species '' Agave salmiana'' * Genus ''Furcraea'', a source of natural fiber * Maguey flowers, an edible flower Other use ...

plants, precious stones, gold adornments, food or, in extreme cases, their homes, family or 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 (each time a marker successfully completes a circuit around the board, the opponent is required to hand over one of their items); 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 (or sometimes six) black beans are used as

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

. 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; the rules in this article pertain to using five 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 on a sheet 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 (getting a score of one). 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 (clockwise around the "X" shape) 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. A player cannot move a marker onto a space that already has a marker (belonging to either player) on it. If the player cannot move any of their markers because they would overshoot the ending square or land on a spot occupied by another marker, 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": A player who lands on one of these triangular spaces 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. As soon as a player has won all of their opponent's treasures, the game is over and that player is the winner. If no player has won the game by the end of a round of play, the players must play another round. In addition, if a player's toss results in all the beans standing on their sides, the game is over and the player automatically wins all the goods bet by both parties.

Macuilxochitl's role in the game

According to the Magliabechiano codex, the god of games, Macuilxochitl, was considered to be participating in the game.Berdan, F.F. & Anawalt, P.R. (1997).''The essential Codex Mendoza. University of California Press:'' California. 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 (no holes showing). After each round of play, the winner of the round receives all the treasure from this space as a gift from Macuilxochitl.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Patolli * https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/gambling-and-patolli-the-aztecs-favourite-game Cross and circle games Mesoamerican sports History of board games