A: What do you think of Mr. X?
B: He plays the game, so I admire him.
A: I see. What about Mr. Y?
B: He is the opposite. He plays games, so I don’t trust him.
In this situation, what should you say ‘play the game’ and ‘play games’ in Japanese?
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B：彼は正々堂々とやるので、尊敬しています。
B：彼はごまかそうとするので、私は彼を信用していません。
Note: This is not a word-for-word translation.
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A word-for-word translation
B：彼はそのゲームをするので、
B：彼はゲームをするので、
These sentences are correct in themselves, but in the context, they don’t make sense.
When you play the game, the phrase means 正々堂々とやる.
Other expressions are as follows.
公明正大な態度でやる、ルールを守って行動する
When you play games, the phrase means ごまかそうとする.
Others are the below.
嘘をつく、いいかげんな態度を取る
