The court is one of the smallest in Maya history. Image caption ... rituals and ceremonies. The ball games we play today are much less deadly, but there are still some similarities.

Now, a team of archaeologists have found evidence that the ancient Maya blessed their ball courts with ritual offerings ... to keep the heavy rubber ball in play, which they did by bouncing ...

Pelota is a 3,000-year-old game that was played with the help of a rubber ball in a ball court ... has Mayan hieroglyphics on its edge and in the middle of it of Mayan dignitaries playing Pok ...