A Play is no Game

In English, just like in Spanish, the same word can perform different functions without even changing its spelling. The word Link for instance can be a noun and can also be a verb.
We need to establish a LINK between your computer and the main server. (Link is a noun here)
All these three wires LINK this equipment with the other devices. (Link is a verb here)
Examples of this phenomenon are more frequent in English than Spanish, but here is one.
La REINA se encuentra molesta por esta situación. (Reina is a noun here)
Una gran inquietud REINA en los corazones de todos nosotros. (Reina is a verb here)
The meaning tends to change, in some cases dramatically, and one of those is the word PLAY which EFL learners first know as the verb JUGAR.  They unconsciously make an assumption and come to believe that PLAY is a verb and a noun as well. The truth is another.
A Play is not a Game. To PLAY is JUGAR, but a PLAY is not un JUEGO. 
A PLAY  is what we know in Spanish as OBRA DE TEATRO, so when the Real Madrid faces Barcelona F.C., that is a Game or a Soccer Match but not a Play. Not even the Macateta is a Play but a Child´s Game.
Hamlet, Othello, or King Lear are all Plays and if you want to see one of them on stage then you go to the theater, also called PLAYhouse. 
BTW: the expression Child's Play does exist and means something that is easily done.

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