This article attempts to present an overview of the situational analysis of play in the urban setting in a developing country (India), substantiated by the results of empirical investigations conducted in Baroda and the metropolitan city of Bombay. The observations highlight the universal features of play and also their cultural specificity conditioned by ecological factors, social class and gender. The ecological constraints of crowding, the high-rise buildings, unsafe streets, scarce open spaces, the preoccupation with the `idiot-box', all seem to conspire against the urban child's natural propensity to play with joyous spontaneity. On the flip side of the coin, of course, are the conscious endeavours by the urban community to recognize children's need for play and to create play environments in the form of parks, children's museums, play centres and the commercial `fun-worlds'. In such a context, what is most impressive and heartening is children's remarkable ability to create their own play space, be it in crowded hovels, community lanes and alleys, construction sites or even the traffic-infested streets, improvising play materials with whatever is accessible in their environments, be it sticks and stones, or tins and trash.