This is one of the most high tempo, rock-style songs that this progressive group recorded. It's also unusual in that it was fronted by Lenny Zakatek - most of their songs featured Eric Woolfson as lead singer.
The song examines the strategies people use to get what they want from others, while also contemplating the fact that they're not getting any younger. Interestingly, there is a book on the former theme by psychiatrist Eric Berne, also called Games People Play.
In a 2019 interview with Alan Parsons, he told Songfacts: "I think it would be fair to say that that was inspired by the fact that we were living in Monte Carlo. It's very linked to the content of the album, The Turn Of A Friendly Card, which was all about gambling, gamblers, the problems of gamblers, and games people play. It's just a gambling theme. We literally lived 10 paces from the Monte Carlo Casino - we were right there."
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