patolli (Mdz70r)

The contextualizing image here shows a man as the player, referred to as a "jugador de patol" ("player of patolli"). And the gloss adds that this game is "a manera de dados" ("like [playing] dice"). The player is wearing only a loin cloth. He has apparently removed his (white cotton?) cloak or cape, which is nearby. The cloth has shading that gives it three-dimensionality.

The patolli game (or patole as it was taken as a loan into Mexican Spanish), which was played across Mesoamerica, is more extensively portrayed in the Florentine Codex. In that depiction, one will also see four beans serving as playing pieces, along with an X shaped playing mat with 52 squares through which the pieces would move. Scattering beans with the hands was part of the game, but also twelve markers (six per player) were moved along the spaces on the mat. The game involved betting precious things (jewelry, feathers, blankets, food, or maguey plants, for example). Even one's home or freedom could be wagered. The game of patolli is also represented in the Codex Magliabechiano.