We use the expression to clown around when we talk about someone playing tricks and making jokes.
VOA: special.2009.01.11
Kasey Kahne, who wound up finishing second behind Kevin Harvick, said he thought his eyes were playingtricks on him when he saw something strange on the track.
She cautions against playingtricks on customers, like getting rid of an angry English-speaking caller by transferring him to a Spanish-speaking operator, because that worker will be caught.
It is impossible to know, of course, what those in the crowd felt as this black blanket swallowed them completely, engulfing the afterglow and playingtricks on their eyes.