Play involves the “whole person” in a physical, cognitive and emotional point of view. For this reason it can promote second language acquisition which is an unconscious process that occurs only when the learner is actively and completely involved in constructing his own knowledge. With this paper we would like to prove that language play is particularly helpful in teaching Italian to Korean university students. After a short anthropological introduction to the significance of “play”,the focus is on the reasons why games can conspicuously promote language learning in Korean university students. There are three main reasons: on a neurological and cognitive point of view games can favor the neural mechanism of learning process in young adults; on a psychological and emotional point of view games promote learner motivation and release Korean students from their fear of making mistakes,of being judged, of losing their face. To finish, games are able to create an ideal social dimension for Korean students, still very much influenced by the Confucian thought. During the game every player feels connected to a group, to a team, and his personal effort and struggle is never egoistically intended, it is always aimed for the success of the whole group. This perfectly fits the collectivistic dimension of Korean society. we consider how to create a good teaching game then we suggest some types of games to use. A part from “role-play” which is one of the most effective communicative games fitting very well the needs of Korean students, other activities are recommended. They focus not only upon communication but also upon form whose importance should not be underestimated especially for teaching Italian which is very different from the student's L1. In particular we recommend memory games, card games and board games which can “force” students in a “funny” way to use some specific grammar structures we want to teach. The challenge of game leads the students to improve their language skills with pleasure. They forget they are students, they forget they are in class to learn and this “rule of forgetting” leads to language acquisition.