ABSTRACT
The difference between play and game can only to a limited extent be enlightened by etymology. In English, play means to move rapidly, to occupy or busy oneself, to exercise, to frolic, to make sport, to mock, to perform music. The difference between two words the 'play' and 'game' has a grammatical character: One can say to play the game, but not to game the play. The sensible differentiation between play, game, display, and sport is not just an intellectual luxury, based on the accidental use of languages. It is an act of critical philosophy, which raises the question of what self-determination means in human playful practice. In early sport books from the late nineteenth century, tug-of-war had a positive image as it represented the "natural" transition from popular games to sport. Rope-pulling is distributed worldwide, from India to Africa, from indigenous American nations to the Scottish highland games.
