The relation of games to life in general is discussed, with the suggestion that games constitute an excursion or "time out" from goal-directed activities in life, in which an alternative set of rules are established for a delimited period. A game thus constitutes a short-term parallel to life in general. As such, it acts, for children, as a device through which they explore social organization, comparable to their explorations of the physical environment at an earlier period of life. The use of games by the sociologist constitutes a formalization of this means for learning about social organization. An extended example of the use of a game involving collective decisions is presented to show this role of games in the development of social theory. (AUTHOR)