In the 1983 movie Trading places, Upper-Crust executive Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Akyroyd) and down-and-out hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) are the subjects of a bet by successful brokers Mortimer (Don Ameche) and Randolph Dukes (Ralph Bellamy). They bet one dollar.   

An employee of the Dukes, Winthorpe is framed by the brothers for a crime he didn’t commit, with the two then installing the street-smart Valentine in his position. When Winthorpe and Valentine uncover the scheme, they set out to turn the tables on the Dukes.

In real life, very few people get the chance to turn the tables on the people who are playing the game against them. Why? Because one group has been conditioned to believe that there are other groups that are causing the problem.

Shakespeare has a lot to say about power and politics in his plays. “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” The King in Henry IV, Part 2 (3.1.31). At a time of night when most of his subjects are asleep, the king is up and busy about his affairs.

Shakespeare’s quotes on life are as relevant to twenty-first-century audiences as they were to sixteenth-century ones. The late actor, John Candy said, “When you find something that works, you keep doing it. “

We think we’re relating to other people–but actually we’re all playing games. Forty years ago, Games People Play revolutionized our understanding of what really goes on during our most basic social interactions. More than five million copies later, Dr. Eric Berne’s classic is as astonishing–and revealing–as it was on the day it was first published.

Explosive when it first appeared, Games People Play is now widely recognized as the most original and influential popular psychology book of our time. It’s as powerful and eye-opening as ever.

Scriptures warn us about the games people play. There will be “A Day of Reckoning” where people are held accountable for their lives.

 2 Corinthians 4:2 Encourages believers to be open and truthful, refusing to “play games” or use masks, living with pure motives rather than deceit.

1 Timothy 4:8 Highlights that while physical training (like sports) has some value, godliness is far more important for this life and the next, warning against misplaced priorities.

Romans 12:2 Urges believers not to conform to worldly patterns, which includes the competitive or deceptive “games” of the world, but to be transformed by renewing their minds.

In essence, Scripture uses “games” as a metaphor for life’s challenges and disciplines, encouraging focus, rule-following, and honest living, while warning against the hollow pursuits of worldly games and chance.