Actually the winning team won all the jewelry and money from the people who was watching. Which was the whole village. Also the sacrifice thing didnt happen every game. Probably only on special occasions.
I believe this is the ceremonial game of tlachtli, versions of which were played by the Olmec (I believe the earliest), Toltecs, Maya, and Aztec. I do believe the losers were sacrificed after the game, but it was slaves/prisoners of war who played. Source: I took an Aztec archaeology course in college... Also, the ball is the first archaeological evidence we have of the use of natural rubber---Bouncy!
There was never a game. I've been to Chichen Itza and the hoops and murals are intact. The murals are mostly to scale including the fabled ball for the game. With the hight of. The hoops it is impossible to get the ball through no matter how you play, add on that the ball is too big to fit through the hoop? No game.
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