One player is the authority, the hunter, the guard, the threat. The rest attempt to roam free, escape, get to home base, and cross a finish line. They are just games because there are rules, a goal, and the reassuring knowledge that losing is harmless. The many variations in the routes smugglers used to take refugees from Turkey to Greece during the surge in immigration ten years ago were also called games. But this was slang rooted in cynicism, as the consequences of losing were fatal.