Martin Wasserman

Sports, Games, and Gambling in the Aztec World Martin Wasserman

Sports, Games, and Gambling in the Aztec World consists of a series of original essays written by Professor Wasserman over a twenty-year period. These essays review and discuss the psychological dynamics involved in the three major Aztec sports and games: patolli (the dice game), tlachtli (the ball game), and Volador (the game of vertigo). In addition, as part of the collection, there is a creative piece showing that poetry, although not considered a game or sport, was viewed by an honored king in the Aztec world--Nezahualcoyotl or Hungry Coyote--as a human gamble with death itself.