(of an audio or visual recording) Unable to be played on specified equipment, or at all.
2010, Mark Berresford, That's Got 'Em!: The Life and Music of Wilbur C. Sweatman (page 143)Apparently the Edison company failed to consider, or chose to ignore, the fact that their records were made using the “hill and dale†vertical-cut recording groove and therefore unplayable on standard (and much cheaper) gramophones ...
(cricket, football, of the delivery of a ball) Impossible to play or to defend against.
(video games) That cannot be played, or is so tedious, complicated, buggy, etc. as to discourage or preclude playing.
1988, Lazer Tag (game review in Your Sinclair issue 32, August 1988)Unoriginal, unplayable, overpriced and generally unappealing.
