The article analyzes the forms of expression of the game in the literature of the Bessarabian writer Nicolae Esinencu, from the scenes with the children's games, to the games of words, language, performance, intertext. These are compared with those of the classic representatives of the motif: Creangă and Eminescu. Literature is a play with time, space, civilizations and history, and the game becomes a subject of interest, a reason that is found in the works of many writers, each representing it in its own way. For the Bessarabian author, the playful is largely Harlequin, the Harlequin revealing itself as a deeply human dimension.