Final answer:
The Chichen Itza Ball Court is the largest and best preserved court for playing the Mesoamerican ball game. It features parallel platforms, carved rings with feathered serpents, and sculpted panels of ball players. Similar ballcourts can also be found in other Mesoamerican areas and even in California.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Chichen Itza Ball Court, also known as the Great Ball Court, is an important archaeological site located in Mexico. It is the largest and best preserved court used for playing the Mesoamerican ball game. The court has parallel platforms that are 312 feet long and 26 feet high. At the center of each wall, there are rings carved with intertwined feathered serpents.
The walls of the court also feature sculpted panels depicting teams of ball players, and one panel even shows a player who has been decapitated with streams of blood in the form of wriggling snakes. Numerous objects, like clay sculptures and Maya painted ceramic vessels, depict the ballgame and I-shaped ballcourts. Even today, a version of the ballgame is played in Mexico.
There are other ballcourts closer to us here in California, such as the ones found at the Wupatki National Monument near Flagstaff, Arizona. These ballcourts were built between 750-1200 CE and suggest the borrowing and modification of the ballcourt idea from native cultures in Mexico.