Play or game?

Play as a noun means ‘a piece of dramatic writing for the theatre or radio or television’:

The students performed a play by Shakespeare and sang some folk songs.

Radio plays are always much better than TV plays – you can use your imagination more.

We use play as a verb to talk about doing sports, music and other leisure activities. We usually don’t use an article (a/an, the) when we talk about sport or leisure activities. We usually use an article when we talk about musical instruments:

I played rugby as a child; we never played soccer.

Can you play the piano?

I’ve never played poker. Have you?

We usually don’t use an article (a/an, the) when we talk about sport or leisure activities. We usually use an article when we talk about musical instruments.

Game is a noun. We use it to talk about sports or other entertaining activities:

Would you like a game of tennis? (or Would you like to play tennis?)

Not: Would you like a play of tennis?

The children invent some fantastic games to occupy themselves.