mind game

plural mind games

1. human sciencesAn attempt at using psychological manipulation against someone, in order to confuse them.

   Your mind games hit like grenades

   2013, “Choose Your Battles”, in Prism, performed by Katy Perry

   2 more examples

   Denmark coach Morten Olsen's pre-match warning that the Netherlands were simply better than his side could easily have been dismissed as mind games.

   2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport

   Years later, [Demis] Hassabis compared [Peter] Molyneux to the mysterious character in The Magus, a novel by John Fowles. The magus is manipulative, mendacious, a master of illusions and mind games.

   2026, Sebastian Mallaby, chapter 2, in The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence, Penguin, →ISBN

2. gamesA game or puzzle involving logical thinking.

   The crosswords and mind games are my favourite part of the newspaper.

   1 more example

   But to the surprise of many in the chess fraternity, [Demis] Hassabis also began to compete in other mind games: bridge and backgammon, Diplomacy and draughts, as well as the Japanese chess variant shogi.

   2026, Sebastian Mallaby, chapter 1, in The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence, Penguin, →ISBN