Ulama (game) - Ulama

Ulama

Ulama games are played on a temporary court called a taste (pronounced "tas-tay", a corruption of tlachtli, the Nahuatl word meaning "ballcourt"). The bounds of these long narrow courts are made by drawing or chalking thick lines in the dirt. The courts are divided into opposing sides by a center line, called an analco. A ball that is allowed to cross the end line, the chichi or chivo, will result in a point for the opposing team. Points or rayas ("lines", so named for the tally marks used to keep score) are gained in various ways. The scoring system also provides for resetting the score to zero upon certain conditions, which can make for lengthy games.

The modern-day game has three main forms:

• Ulama de cadera, or hip ulama. A hip ulama team consists of five or more players, but there could be as many as twelve, wearing loincloths, with leather hip pads for some protection against the heavy (3 kg or 7 lb) rubber ball.
• Ulama de antebrazo, or forearm ulama. Played on a smaller field, with teams of one to three players and ball lighter than that of hip ulama, the games requires the players to return the ball using their wrapped forearm. Women often play this game.
• Ulama de mazo or Ulama de palo, in which a heavy (6-7 kg or 13-15 lb) two-handed wooden paddle strikes a 500 g (1 lb) ball, usually with teams of 3 or 4.

The object of the game is to keep the ball in play and in bounds. Depending on the score – and the local variant of the rules – the ball is played either high or low. A team scores a point when a player of the opposing team hits the ball out of turn; misses the ball; knocks the ball out of bounds; touches the ball with their hands or some other body part aside from the hip; accidentally touches a team-mate; lets the ball stop moving before it reaches the centre line or even if they fail to announce the score after they have scored a point.

The team that first scores eight points wins. If both teams end up having the same number of points after a turn, both sides begin again from zero. One record-setting game reputedly lasted for eight days but most modern games are stopped after about two hours.