The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame

"An online educational companion to the traveling exhibition."

-National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mint Museum of Art.

Explore World

• Map and Timeline
• Map Today
• 1500 BC-1519 AD
• Cultures
• Olmec
• Western Mexico
• Teotihuacan
• Maya
• Veracruz
• Toltec
• Huastec
• Aztec
• Artwork
• Ballgame
• Site

Explore Game

• The Ball
• The Uniform
• Yuguito
• Yoke
• Hacha
• Palma
• Manopla
• See a parade of players
• Learn about their team mascots
• Visit the players' locker room
• The Court
• Walk Around a Court
• Listen to an ancient Aztec Song
• See a gallery of artwork from the courts
• What can we learn from this ancient vessel?
• The Game
• Watch a game
• How we play the game
• What happened to the users?
• Did women play?

Experience Game

• Watch
• Hear commentary
• See more of this model
• Side view
• Top view
• Spectators
• Drummers
• Players
• Play
• "Today you have a game against your rivals, the Deer. You can lead the Jaguars to victory through your knowledge of the Mesoamerican world. For every question you answer correctly, your team scores 1 point. Every time you miss a question, you drop the ball for your team and the Deer score a point. The First Team to 5 Points Wins!"

Experience Exhibit

• The Mint Museum of Art
• The New Orleans Museum of Art
• The Joslyn Museum of Art
• The Newark Museum
• Buy the Catalog

Classroom Connections

• Make a paper face mask
• Visual arts, social studies, and math
• Grades 3-5
• Create a clay effigy vessel
• Visual arts, social studies, language arts, and science
• Grades 3-5
• Craft headdress & costumes from paper
• Visual arts and social studies
• Grades 6-12
• Mold clay ballgame figurines
• Visual arts and social studies
• Grades 3-12