From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishplay something ↔ out phrasal verb1 if an event or situation is played out or plays itself out, it happens It will be interesting to see how the election plays itself out.2 PERFORMif people play out their dreams, feelings etc, they express them by pretending that a particular situation is really happening The weekend gives you a chance to play out your fantasies. → play→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
play out• It is inconceivable that this same scenario could have played itself out as it did with a group of unrelated individuals.• Okay, shall we play this out do you think?• How does that different focus play itself out in daily parenting?• Every time he'd had a few drinks, they took starring roles in the fantasies that played themselves out in his head.• He has three other plays sketched out in his mind but not yet committed to paper.• This year a mere sprat of a northern lass won my heart playing hers out on a mighty and sonorous trombone.• Events must play themselves out to aesthetic, moral and logical conclusion. 