ゲーム

げーむ
noun
game
leisure
1. game; video game
A game played for fun, especially a video game played on a console, computer or phone; also board games and card games (ボードゲーム, カードゲーム).
I bought a new game.
The child does nothing but play video games.
This game is interesting and you can play it for hours.
I play online games with my friends every night.
When I was a child I went to the arcade every week, but now I mostly play games at home.
I like playing board games together with the whole family.
Since we couldn't go outside because of the rain, I spent the day playing card games with the children.
2. game, match
A single game within a match or set, as in tennis, or a game in the sense of a sports match.
Today's game was fun.
The next game is next Saturday.
I won three games in a row in the tennis match.
ゲーム as a scoring unit in tennis

Usage: On its own, ゲーム usually means a video game: ゲームをする means playing video games unless the context says otherwise.

Watch out: For a sports match, the usual word is 試合(しあい); ゲーム in that sense is mainly used for a game within a set (tennis, volleyball) or in set phrases such as ゲームセット (game over).

Common collocations

  • ゲームをする/遊(あそ)ぶ (to play a game)
  • ゲームソフト (game software)
  • ゲーム機(き) (game console)
  • ゲームセンター (arcade)
  • オンラインゲーム (online game)
  • ボードゲーム (board game)
  • カードゲーム (card game)

Related words