I already gave you definitions of work and play that are consistent with how the words are USED.
How words are USED - is PARAMOUNT! A words definition is, and must always be based on, and therefore be fully consistent with, HOW IT IS USED - if it is not, then it is meaningless and irrelevant.
The study of words and how they are used, and decipher their meaning, is called linguistics - as I said, I've been studying games AS a matter of linguistics!
In doing so I've found a number of problems, all of which happen to be symptoms of a very simple, fundamental problem itself:
The (subjective) manner in which the language is USED, is affecting the perception, recognition, understanding and definitions of what OTHER WORDS in the language represent - because of how they are DESCRIBED.
The word game is merely one symptom of this problem, both in isolation, and in relation to the rest of the language.
Boggle and scrabble are NOT puzzles - they're GAMES, since the behaviour they enable and promote is consistently represented by that word, not puzzle. Some games are called 'puzzle-games', but as I explained, that is to do with their APPLICATION, not their DEFINITION.
Like I said - you're not getting beyond the APPLICATIONS which these things are LABELLED by, to understand WHAT it is they're APPLYING in the first place!
I'm sorry, but games and puzzles ARE NOT THE SAME THING - because the words are NOT used the same way! And based on HOW they are used - they MUST represent applications of DIFFERENT behaviour!
Puzzles are NOT, nor can every BE a subset of what the word game represents, since what they MUST represent, based on how the words are USED is INCOMPATIBLE with what the word game must also represent based on how it is used too - it's like trying to define wood as a subset of metal - they're both materials, but are not related beyond that. Game and puzzle both represent applications of behaviour - that is the only thing they share, and can be related by. Just because people are mistaking one for the other, because they fail to understand WHAT they represent, even though humanity uses the words in such a consistent manner, does not mean they're the same. If puzzles were games, we wouldn't need to use the word puzzle in such a manner in the first place...
ALL puzzles, whether we created them or not (in isolation) are consistent with the application of behaviour the word puzzle represents based on its use... The fact that puzzles can exist WITHOUT us having to create them, based merely on out perception, whereas games (as activities), are ALWAYS of our own creation, should tell you something!
PUZZLES AND GAMES CAN BOTH EXIST INDEPENDENTLY OF EACH OTHER...
As I said - I can explain it in a far more precise manner, but it means arguing with the dictionary.
The best way I can put it, (without going there) is this:
Games have to be created (by people), as an activity, from SCRATCH - they simply do NOT exist AS an activity, until they are played, (irrespective of any (OPTIONAL!) 'things' (that might be) also labelled as games that may be used during and/or to enable and promote such an activity). Puzzles, however, DO - they are created, or simply exist in order FOR people to interact with them - either through power of choice or discovery - the puzzle itself does NOT change based on the person interacting with it - it changes based on what happens TO the person..
In fact, any-time the game (as an activity) has NOT been created from scratch in accordance to it's rules - it is considered CHEATING!
Still not as precise as it could be, but still...
So, what about my question about Snakes and ladders then?
(Note: As I said, I've been working on this for a while, now - (2 years) - and because of what I've discovered about the English language - (all the clues are there in the posts above) - I can tell you quite simply that there is possibly no-one else on this planet, (in a viable way), that understands this problem as well as I do. (It's fairly obvious that they know that a problem exists, just not it's true nature). The only problem I have at this time, is knowing what to DO with what it is I've found (since I'm not at university). I've found a very basic, simple, fundamental problem with the definitions of a couple of words - one of which would appear to be extremely important - again, symptoms of the main problem above.
Your problem is that you are not fully understanding what I'm writing - that the ONE main element you need to focus on is (your own?) BEHAVIOUR, BEHAVIOUR, BEHAVIOUR, when it comes to recognising and understanding game, art, puzzle, competition/competitions etc. for what they are, based on how the words are USED. If you honestly think that interacting with something that happens TO you, is the same as, or a sub-set of, doing something (anything) FOR yourself, then I cannot help you...
The three main types/aspects of behaviour all these words represent are:
Things people DO for themselves - (game, work, play)
Things people DO for others - (art)
Things that happen TO people - (puzzle/competitions).
(Competition as an application of compete mainly represents a state of existence/relationships between people/animate things (competitors) when used in isolation)
Like I said, though - it's still not as precise as I can be...
There is of course one other main mistake you make that is EXTREMELY common, even though it should be extremely obvious that it's wrong:
You assume that, just because we 'play' (verb) a game, it must BE play (noun).
This is NOT the case, based on how the word game is USED. Games are often played for productive reasons - professionally, as a job in itself, or as part of a job, (e.g. in the Military) - this means that games can be, and are played for WORK. There are some other, similar words (even of the same type) that are also used in such a manner - such as music/musical instrument, or concert - all of which can also be played for WORK. The link between play and work as verbs, and play and work as nouns does NOT, therefore, always exist in a consistent manner - it depends on context! Again, the application of behaviour the words game, art, puzzle and competition(s) represent, all exist WITHIN THE LANGUAGE, independently of work and play, (as nouns) - of being productive or non-productive - and do so for a good reason - what they represent exists independently of such things!).
I'd still like to see if you can answer my question about Snakes and ladders though ;)