Two ways of looking at EFL games

I boxed in college. 
Really.
All 1.5m of me.

Why am I telling you this? 

Boxing is a game: it has clear rules and a point system and the winner is the one who can knock out the other guy.  It's bloody and violent and potentially lethal...but it's a game.  English is a game in the same way: you go out and you use it.  You have rules and structures and if you use it right you can get what you want.

However, no-one, not Muhammed Ali, and certainly not little ol' me, can just get into a ring and start beating the opponent senseless.  No, you have to be trained to do it right.  As with English.  No matter what those fly-by-night schools tell you, you cannot suddenly become fluent.   Like it or not, you have to master the basics of the grammar, the vocabulary, and the skills before you can go out and start wheeling and dealing in English.

Now here's the thing: training for boxing can be fairly boring (think hours of skipping rope and jabbing at punching bags) but it can also be turned into a game.   Just like language teaching:  you can do hours of worksheets or you can play learning games.

The important thing is to distinguish between the two kinds of games:

1.  Scaffolding games where you learn through playing

• In boxing I used to rally with a friend to see who could skip rope the longest, or we'd call out increasingly difficult punching combinations for the other to try.  The aim was partly to develop our muscles and our technique, and partly to watch our partner to learn correct and incorrect moves.
• In English, you can play games where you have time to think about specific concepts such as vocabulary words or verb tenses.   In my experience, the best games for these are modified card or board games where players take turns and can watch each other and learn from each others successes and errors.

2.  Mastery games where you play with what you already know.

• In boxing, this means getting into the ring and ...well, boxing.  This doesn't mean you're perfect already, but that your muscles and technique are sufficiently developped that you can now put them into practice.
• In English this means that you can now play drama-type games based on writing and speaking where it is assumed you know enough language for the game to proceed.  At lower levels, the games would require simpler language, but as you move up to higher levels the language required becomes more complex in order for the game to work, while still remaining within the abilities of the learners. (This is really important: many games fail because they're either too easy or too difficult for the level!)

The mistake most teachers make here is to mix up the two.  For example, a game like "guess the word" won't work if the students don't have the language to describe the word.  If you need the students to practice the vocabulary, a memory game matching words and definitions would be much better.  Then, once the students know the vocabulary and are comfortable with it, you can challenge them to incorporate the new words into an improvised dialogue, say by picking words out of a hat and seeing if they can use it in the next sentence without their partner realising which word they've used.