Chichen Itza, one of the largest sites near Cancun, Mexico, has a ball game court. It is larger than a football field – about 150 by 40 feet. It is the largest in the Mundo Maya. The ball game, (Pok-A-Tok to the Maya), which was a common activity of all Mesoamerican peoples and originated about 3,000 B.C., had a ritualistic function for the ancient Maya.

The game appears in various myths, sometimes as a struggle between day and night deities, or the battles between the gods in the sky and the lords of the underworld. The ball symbolized the sun, moon, or stars, and the rings stood for sunrise and sunset, or equinoxes.

There were two teams. The number of players depended on the region where the game was played. Most ball courts had two sloping parallel walls inset with three round disks called markers or a single stone ring at right angles to the ground.

hoop in ball court at Chichen Itza

The players scored by touching the markers or passing the ball—which was 50 centimeters in diameter and weighed more than two pounds—through the rings. The markers or rings were several yards above the ground, and the players could only touch the ball with their elbows, knees, or hips. Scoring was considered such a feat that it usually ended the game.

These games could go on for days.  The losing team was usually sacrificed.  

stone carving of a ball player

 

(adapted from source)