The Playing of Games: Kierkegaard's Influence on Two Elements of Suits' Tricky Triad

Bernard Suits is well known for his metaphysical analyses of play, games and sport-what he calls the "Tricky Triad." Suits engaged in a published discussion with Klaus Meier regarding the triad and the relationship between the three phenomena. These two scholars disagreed on the relationship between game and sport, leaving other relationships without further analysis. In this article, I seek a deeper understanding of the relationship between play and games, both of which I argue have their roots in boredom. In order to better understand the relationship, I analyze Kierkegaard's principles of limitation, arbitrariness, and consistency as the foundation of Suits' arguments on the matter. Indeed, by digging deeper into Kierkegaard's influence on Suits, we are better able to understand the relationship between play and games. I argue specifically that increased familiarity with games correlates with a dampening of the fragility of play and that games provide nuance for play in order to sustain the latter once the novelty of play experiences wear off.