Patolli

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Patolli is one of the oldest games in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Patolli (or variants of it) are is thought to have been known to a wide range of Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Maya inhabitants of Chichen Itza (1100 - 1300 A.D.), and the Aztecs (1168 - 1521 A.D.)^{[citation needed]}

It seems it had a ceremonial and religious sense that still now is not very clear: the time cycle of the Aztecs is based upon 52 years, the same number of squares found in the game.

The Magliabecci codex says: Patolli's god was Macuilxochitl, deity of music, dance, gambling and games, called God of the Five Flowers.

Before starting the game, the players invoked him and they offered incense and food. They bet blankets, maguey plants, precious stones and gold adornments.

The Spaniards forbade the game during the conquest because it was considered pagan and idolatrous.

Source- Anthropolgy by E. Adamson Hoebel, University of Minnesota, Third edition. 1958, 1966. p. 76. "... the diffusion of the ancient East Indian game of pachisi into prehistoric America, where it appeared among the Aztecs as patolli and in various other forms among other Indians. See notes 15, 16 17 below: 15. E. B. Tylor, "On the Game of Patolli in Ancient Mexico, and Its Probably Asiatic Origin" (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland) Vol. 8, 1879), pp. 116-129. 16. E. B. Tylor, "American Lot Games as Evidence of Asiatic Intercourse before the Time of Columbus" (Internationales Archie fur Ethnogrophie, Vol. 9, supplement, 1896), p. 66. For a critical evaluation of Tylor's method, see C. J. Erasmus, "Patolli, Pachisi, and the Limitation of Possibilities" (Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 6, 1950), pp. 369-387. 17. F. Boas, Tsimshian Mythology (Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 31, 1916), pp. 393-558. This is the classic study of the reflection of a people's material culture and social organization in their mythology.