"play the game" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays the game",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing the game",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played the game",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played the game",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play the game (third-person singular simple present plays the game, present participle playing the game, simple past and past participle played the game)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1892, Henry Newbolt, Vitaï Lampada",
          "text": "And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat, / Or the selfish hope of a season's fame, / But his captain's hand on his shoulder smote / \"Play up! play up! and play the game!\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1979 December 1, Ron Vachon, quoting Bernice Goodman, “Homosexuality: Changing Clinical Perspectives”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 19, page 3",
          "text": "Myth #5— Acceptance and participation in the mainstream of society is automatically desirable. In order to be accepted you may have to compromise important personal values because average middle-American values are most important. You have to \"play the game\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To behave fairly; to abide by the rules."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_the_game-en-verb-hW0VdJyT",
      "links": [
        [
          "fairly",
          "fairly"
        ],
        [
          "abide by",
          "abide by"
        ],
        [
          "rule",
          "rule"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "play ball"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "play by the rules"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "behave fairly",
          "word": "noudattaa pelisääntöjä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "behave fairly",
          "word": "jouer le jeu"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "behave fairly",
          "word": "stare al gioco"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "behave fairly",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "trzymać się zasad"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "behave fairly",
          "word": "jogar limpo"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "behave fairly",
          "word": "spela spelet"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "play the game"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays the game",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing the game",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played the game",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played the game",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play the game (third-person singular simple present plays the game, present participle playing the game, simple past and past participle played the game)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "play ball"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1892, Henry Newbolt, Vitaï Lampada",
          "text": "And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat, / Or the selfish hope of a season's fame, / But his captain's hand on his shoulder smote / \"Play up! play up! and play the game!\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1979 December 1, Ron Vachon, quoting Bernice Goodman, “Homosexuality: Changing Clinical Perspectives”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 19, page 3",
          "text": "Myth #5— Acceptance and participation in the mainstream of society is automatically desirable. In order to be accepted you may have to compromise important personal values because average middle-American values are most important. You have to \"play the game\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To behave fairly; to abide by the rules."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fairly",
          "fairly"
        ],
        [
          "abide by",
          "abide by"
        ],
        [
          "rule",
          "rule"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "play by the rules"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "behave fairly",
      "word": "noudattaa pelisääntöjä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "behave fairly",
      "word": "jouer le jeu"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "behave fairly",
      "word": "stare al gioco"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "behave fairly",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "trzymać się zasad"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "behave fairly",
      "word": "jogar limpo"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "behave fairly",
      "word": "spela spelet"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play the game"
}