Pok (sport)

Though initially an obscure ball game from a corner of the Great Continent, Pok has spread throughout the world, drawing fans from all nations because of its intensity and brutality. The game is typically played in a stone court, twice as long as it is wide, with a stone ring on either end perpendicular to the wall. Two teams of seven square off against each other and try to get the ball through the ring at the end; despite variations in different nations, hands are universally banned. The balls are made of solid rubber and range from four to nine pounds in weight. The following variant rules are found in different regions.
Clubs - Some nations equip the players with wooden clubs, either flat like a cricket bat or more like a regular bat. The bat may be used on the ball, and though the players use them on one another, the clubs variant has strict rules against the ball in play ever hitting the ground, and if a player causes the ball to touch the court because they're assaulting another player there is a severe penalty.
Ground - A small handful of cultures allow the balls to touch the ground but require that a kick put the ball through a ring at the end. The upper body (except for the hands) is allowed to be used for moving the ball, but not scoring. Purists generally see this as an easy version or even debased, but the play is no less brutal for it.
Sacrifice - For cultures who still engage in human sacrifice, the losing team in a match is offered to the gods through various methods. If the ball touches the ground while in play, the closest player is sacrificed, sometimes immediately.
Even when human sacrifice is not part of the culture, the game is notoriously unforgiving, with a massive and heavy projectile flying through the air and a merciless court of stone grinding down the players as they jump and dive to keep the ball alive. Deaths are not uncommon, and even as the Republic looks down its nose at the sacrifice of humans elsewhere in the world, most citizens don't consider a game worthwhile unless one player dies on the court.