Mayan Pok a Tok Team Names

Five team names a press for a class game of pok-a-tok, each with one fact about the Maya.

Mayan Pok a Tok Team Names

  1. Solar Year SolversThe Maya worked out the solar year more exactly than the Julian year.
  2. Dos Pilas OutpostDos Pilas was founded in 629 as an outpost of Tikal.
  3. Latex TappersMost balls were made from the latex sap of a lowland tree.
  4. Early Chili FarmersBy about 1800 BC the Maya were growing maize, beans, squash and chili pepper.
  5. Yaxchilan Stair CarversAt Yaxchilan, stone stairways were decorated with sculpture.

How it works

These Mayan pok-a-tok team names are for a class game. They are not the names of ancient teams, which none of the sources we read records. Each of the 71 comes with one fact a pupil can read out.

Read the full guide

What pok-a-tok was

Pok-a-tok, also written pok-ta-pok, is an English name for the Mesoamerican ball game, known in Classical Maya as pitz. Two teams played in a long, narrow alley between slanted walls, and in the best known form players struck a solid rubber ball with their hips. The rules are not known.

Four sets in the menu

Ball court words is the first set in the menu: Hip Strikers, Stone Ring Shooters, Solid Rubber Bouncers. Maya cities has Tikal Rivals and Copán Scribes. Sky, numbers and writing has Venus Watchers and Glyph Writers. Crops, trades and animals has Jade Carvers and Quetzal Feathers.

Questions and answers

What were the real pok-a-tok teams called?

No source we read records the name of an ancient team. The names here were written for school games, from things the Maya built, grew, watched and played with.

How many players were on a pok-a-tok team?

Two to four. Games were played between two teams, and the number of players on each could vary from two to four.

What is a good pok-a-tok team name for a class?

Keep It in Play, Court Musicians, Sloped Wall Rebounders and Maize Beans and Squash are four, and each has a fact under it to read out.

Is a Maya god used as a team name?

No. The list uses ball court words, cities, the calendar, crops and animals, and no god is a team name.

More tools

Browse More Sports

All 71 names

Ball court words 20

  • Bouncing Sun Squad The bouncing ball is thought to have stood for the sun.
  • Court Musicians Pictures of the game often show musicians playing at ballgames.
  • Far End Keepers Later ball courts had a closed end zone at each end of the alley.
  • Great Ballcourt Regulars The Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza has by far the largest playing field.
  • Hip Guard Heroes The basic outfit for the hip game was a loincloth, sometimes with leather hip guards.
  • Hip Strikers In the best known form of the game, players struck the ball with their hips.
  • Keep It in Play The rules are not known, but the aim was probably to keep the ball in play.
  • Latex Tappers Most balls were made from the latex sap of a lowland tree.
  • Long and Narrow Court A playing alley was about four times as long as it was wide.
  • Narrow Alley Crew Every ball court has the same general shape: a long, narrow playing alley between two walls.
  • Painted Wall Players The walls of a ball court were often plastered and brightly painted.
  • Pitz Players In Classical Maya the game was known as pitz.
  • Pok-Ta-Pok Players In English the game is often called pok-ta-pok or pok-a-tok.
  • Recess Ballplayers The game was also played casually, for fun, by children.
  • Right Kneepad Crew Many ballplayers in Maya art wear a kneepad on the right knee only.
  • Sloped Wall Rebounders Ball courts had long, narrow alleys with slanted side walls that the ball could bounce off.
  • Solid Rubber Bouncers The ball was made of solid natural rubber.
  • Stone Ring Shooters Later Maya courts had a stone ring on each side, and players tried to pass the ball through one.
  • Two Team Showdown Games were played between two teams, with two to four players on each.
  • Ulama Cousins A modern form of the game, called ulama, is still played in parts of Mexico.

Maya cities 21

  • Bonampak Painters Some of the best preserved Maya murals are at Bonampak.
  • Calakmul Challengers Calakmul, a powerful city in the Petén Basin, was the great rival of Tikal.
  • Caracol Climbers Caracol was one of the cities that held power over its region for a time.
  • Chichen Itza Northerners Chichen Itza rose in the north of the Maya area in the Postclassic period.
  • Coba Captains In the north of the Maya area, Coba was the most important capital.
  • Copán Scribes A stairway at Copán holds the longest surviving Maya text, made of 2,200 glyphs.
  • Dos Pilas Outpost Dos Pilas was founded in 629 as an outpost of Tikal.
  • El Mirador Pyramid Builders The largest known triadic pyramid was built at El Mirador.
  • Kaminaljuyu Highlanders Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands.
  • Mayapan Latecomers Mayapan rose in the 12th century, after the decline of Chichen Itza.
  • Nakbe Firsts Nakbe is the earliest well-documented city in the Maya lowlands.
  • Palenque Panel Carvers Palenque is known for its carved limestone panels.
  • Piedras Negras Sculptors Eight sculptors signed one stone monument at Piedras Negras.
  • Quiriguá Sandstone Crew The builders of Quiriguá worked in sandstone.
  • Tikal Rivals Tikal and Calakmul were two great rival cities of the Maya Lowlands.
  • Toniná Timekeepers The last Long Count date was carved at Toniná, in the year 909.
  • Tulum Easterners Tulum is a small site in the east of the Yucatán Peninsula.
  • Uaxactun Group E E-Groups, a set arrangement of temples, are named after Group E at Uaxactun.
  • Uxmal Builders Uxmal is the model example of the Puuc style of Maya building.
  • Yaxchilan Stair Carvers At Yaxchilan, stone stairways were decorated with sculpture.
  • Yaxha Court Keepers Yaxha is one of the ancient cities with a fine ball court in good condition.

Sky, numbers and writing 12

  • Bar and Dot Counters Maya numerals are built from bars and dots.
  • Base Twenty Bunch The Maya counted in base 20.
  • Eclipse Recorders Maya priests recorded eclipses of the sun and the moon.
  • Fifty-Two Year Round The 260-day and 365-day calendars of the Maya met in a 52-year Calendar Round.
  • Glyph Writers Maya writing used glyphs, and no more than about 500 were in use at any one time.
  • Long Count Stone Daters Lowland Maya cities of the Classic period raised monuments dated in the Long Count calendar.
  • Screenfold Bookworms The Maya recorded their history in books that folded like a screen.
  • Solar Year Solvers The Maya worked out the solar year more exactly than the Julian year.
  • Star and Planet Observers The Maya were keen observers of the sun, stars and planets.
  • Stela Raisers By about 400 BC, early Maya rulers were raising carved stones called stelae.
  • Venus Watchers Many Maya buildings were lined up with the planet Venus.
  • Written Zero Mathematicians Maya mathematics had one of the earliest known uses of a written zero.

Crops, trades and animals 18

  • Cacao Traders Cacao was one of the goods carried along Maya trade routes.
  • Canoe Paddlers Maya traders moved goods by canoe along rivers and the coast.
  • Causeway Runners Causeways linked the center of a Maya city to its outer parts.
  • Conch Inkpot Scribes A sculpture from Copán shows a scribe with an inkpot made from a conch shell.
  • Corbel Arch Masons The corbel arch is a common feature of Maya buildings.
  • Cotton and Vanilla Growers The Maya grew prized crops such as cotton, cacao and vanilla.
  • Early Chili Farmers By about 1800 BC the Maya were growing maize, beans, squash and chili pepper.
  • Jade Carvers The Maya placed a high value on apple-green jade.
  • Loyal Dog Pack The Maya kept dogs from as early as 3000 BC.
  • Maize Beans and Squash The basic foods of the Maya were maize, beans and squashes.
  • Muscovy Duck Paddlers The Maya had few tame animals. The Muscovy duck was one of them in late Maya times.
  • Northern Salt Traders The leading cities of northern Yucatán controlled the sources of salt.
  • Ocellated Turkey Flock Ocellated turkeys were rounded up in the wild and kept in pens.
  • Quetzal Feathers The headdress of a Maya king was adorned with quetzal feathers.
  • Rain Season Builders Maya houses stood on stone platforms, above the floods of the rain season.
  • Spondylus Shell Workers The Maya valued Spondylus shells and worked them to show the orange inside.
  • Spotted Jaguar Squad Maya art shows the nobles of a royal court with jaguar pelts.
  • Twenty-Five Rowers One large Maya trading canoe was powered by 25 rowers.
How this list was compiled

A list of 71 team names for a class game of pok-a-tok, the Maya ball game, written by Wheel of Teams on 2026-10-02 and filed in four groups: ball court words, Maya cities, sky, number and writing names, and crop, trade and animal names. These are names for a school game. They are not the names of ancient teams, which none of the sources we read records. Under every name a line gives one fact. Each fact follows, in our own words, a sentence of one of three English Wikipedia articles read on 2026-10-02: Mesoamerican ballgame (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_ballgame), Maya civilization (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization) and Mayan cities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayan_cities); text under CC BY-SA 4.0. No god is used as a team name. Compared by script the same day with every other list on this site: no name is repeated. Nothing was checked against a trademark register. Licence: own work