The bilateral and ongoing nature of games and the different components of a game episode are reviewed in order to clarify the present state of game theory. A new diagram of the general dynamics of game mechanisms is proposed which incorporates dual responsibility, separates intrapsychic processes from transactional ones, and shows the ongoing and cumulative nature of games. Different aspects of games, examined by previous authors in terms of various TA concepts, are discussed, and some are integrated with examples into an overall view. This paper is intended to stimulate readers to rethink the nature of the game phenomenon, an important and well-founded TA concept.
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