Ethnology plays an essential role in the research of games and play in academical discourse. Ethnology was one of the first scientific fields which began to deal with ludic activities - first, of course, mainly with collection and classification of children's formalized games. Ethnology can contribute to the academical study of games and play in a significant way even today when also other humanities and social sciences, such as psychology and pedagogy, deal with the theme. Ethnological research of games should be aimed especially at collection, description, classification and interpretation of the local cultural variants of gaming behavior. Among the most actual themes of Czech ethnological research of games are compilation of a catalogue and synthetic interpretation of historical children's games, collection, classification and analysis of contemporary children's games and - last, but not least - the collection, classification and analysis of contemporary syncretic games including the research of thein relation to the entertainment and gaming industry and the popular and mass culture.