This game of dice is composed of four pieces of jade shaped like beans, each with a smooth side and a dot on the opposite side. One extra piece shaped like a grain of maize serves as a witness and has no numeric value in the roll of the dice.
In order to begin traveling through the spaces and working the land, it is necessary for the player’s “birth” to take place, which occurs when the sum of one, zero or four are obtained on the dice.
When a player is born, they place their traveler in the center space of the patolli, on the color of the direction they represent. On the next turn, they will be able to move along the spaces of the board.