Christenson (2007: note 244, pages 105-106) rightly points out the difficulty of documenting this object in alphabetic sources. He writes: "Unfortunately b'ate does not appear in any early colonial dictionaries, perhaps because the ballgame ceased to be played soon after the Spanish conquest. Thus the names for the equipment used in the game fell out of usage. From the description found later in the Popol Vuh text, the ball bounces off of this article in the process of playing the game.
Tedlock points out that cha’j is used for the game ball in Xib'alb'a while kik’ -- which also means "blood" or "resin" -- refers only to the ball of Juajpu and Xb’alanke. Perhaps this wordplay solidifies a semantic connection for the Maya, allowing kik to refer to balls and, more distantly, to humans’ interaction with the supernatural through sacrifice or ball game challenges.
The Mesoamerican ball game famously provides the central mode of conflict between Xib’alb’a and the two sets of brothers in the Popl Wuj. Although the exact rules and purpose of the game are unknown, it is clear that it held significance far beyond that of a simply recreational activity.
In his literal poetic translation, Mayanist scholar Allen J. Christenson renders Lotz kik' as "Sliced Rubber," whereas K'iche' scholar Sam Colop translates the name as "sangre de sacrificio" (blood of sacrifice). As Christenson (2007: 106n248) explains in his prose translation, "Kik' is the vital fluid of any living thing (blood for animals, sap for trees, etc.).