This was not an easy game. The aim was to keep the heavy rubber ball in the air and to land it eventually in the opponents' end of the court, and the ball itself could weigh anywhere from 8 lbs to an immense 30 lbs-almost 15 kg. And you're not allowed to use your hands, head or feet. Players had to use their buttocks, forearms and above all their hips, which is where a padded belt would be most useful. The actual belts used in the game, probably made of leather, wood and woven plants, had to be strong in order to protect the wearer from the heavy rubber ball, but light enough to allow the wearer to move about the court in them.In 1528, the Spanish brought two Aztec players to Europe, and a German artist painted them in mid-game, back-to-back, virtually naked, wearing what looks like specially reinforced briefs, with the ball in flight between their buttocks. The exact rules of the game are unclear, and they may have changed over the centuries as well as varying throughout Central America's different communities. What we do know is that it was played in teams of between two and seven players, and scoring was based on the result of faults, as in tennis today. These faults could be touching the ball with a prohibited part of the body such as the head or the hand, failing to return it, or sending it out of the court.