| The Prizes Of Tlachli |
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 Pablo Edronkin
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Have you ever wondered when did gambling began in the history of mankind? This is an interesting question because it says a lot about the nature of entertainment, betting and the use of money in order to increase the thrill of playing or watching some event. What is evident is that playing for money or with money is different from vices such as smoking, which began only recently. Gambling was already extensive and quite popular within ancient civilisations, and prizes of all sorts existed in order to motivate both spectators as well as players; however, in some cases those prizes would be incomprehensible to us. So is the case of 'Tlachli,' the ancient Aztec ball sport or game in which players faced even the risk of death, either from injuries related to actually playing it or as a consequence of their feats during each game. First of all, the actual product, balls used by the Aztecs were made of natural rubber, they were very solid and heavy, and an impact of one of those over an unprotected body could cause massive injuries, as it has been proven by looking at the skeletal remnants of famous players who suffered a lot of major health-related issues because of the bombardment with these balls over a number of years. And secondly, people could die because so was one of the prizes: winners may be sacrificed to the Gods. Your really had to be very brave to participate in such games; American football and its Kevlar gear are nothing compared to that. This Aztec game is still played to some extent, but our advice is to think it twice before participating. Of course, around those games there was a lot of hype and excitation going on and betting was commonplace; people sometimes paid with cocoa seeds, which were used as currency then and there, in central America, and while the Aztecs never built structures as the Roman Coliseum or Circus, these events seemed to be equally important and popular. |
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