Google has "game" defined as
a form of play or sport, especially a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength, or luck.
I mean, games of chance literally have "game" right in the title. Some gambling games, like poker, even have a high component of skill, even though chance plays a large role as well.
I mean, by that logic, slot machines aren't a game, since there's no interactivity. I suppose there is a ruleset, but ultimately all it's doing is choosing what order the reels are in, or, in more modern machines, simply choosing some random numbers.
Making choices is a core gameplay mechanic, though. I'm not huge into visual novels, but I have to imagine that at least some have or might have, say, RNG based skill checks or the like. Finally, I would absolutely consider Choose Your Own Adventure as a game. (Not a video game, of course, but still.) The Wiki article even calls it a "gamebook" in the opening paragraph.
I've recently finished playthroughs of Persona 5 Royal and Cyberpunk 2077. Also been playing Rocket League, Balatro, and Noita. I would recommend any of them. Even Cyberpunk was pretty good after the big patch.
Edit: I will say that Cyberpunk has some whiffs of wokeness. For example, any given V will have exactly two romance options: one gay and one straight. You can also turn yourself into the ultimate gender bent monstrosity if you wish. Now, this stuff makes sense within the Cyberpunk world, so it's not as egregious to me, but it's still worth mentioning.
If the polls underestimated Trump by 3-7 points -- as they did in 2016 and 2020 -- then we're looking at a Trump landslide, including flipping places like Virginia and New Hampshire. Cheating could absolutely still be in play, so if you're reading this, fucking vote. Best case scenario, do you want to tell your grandkids that you were too lazy to participate in history?
doubt that anyone buys that pitch
The New York Times was running pieces saying that it works as recently as January of this year. In the last month or so, they've been saying that it doesn't, true, but admitting that is a new development.
do what we tell you to do or we'll make sure that no one invests in your company anymore.
OK, but that has to go hand in hand with at least some profits. Colossal losses time after time are not what anyone had in mind.
To some degree, but that's not the pitch that people get. "Be more Inclusive(TM) and you'll bring in the Modern Audience(TM)!" is much more compelling than "basically every product you make will flop from now on, but don't worry, huge Wall Street firms will still pump money into your company until they decide not to."
"Just let woke win, bro"
That's a no from me.