A game ends by agreement; its effect on a friendship may not.

The game finishes when everyone agrees it has, and the residue does not. Something said in the heat of it, a decision that felt unfair, a competitiveness that surprised both of you: these can outlast the final whistle by a long way. The formal ending does not settle the informal effects.

If something between you and a friend went slightly wrong during a contest, it is worth mentioning afterwards rather than assuming the ending covered it. A short, unserious acknowledgement usually clears it entirely. Left alone, these small residues have a way of accumulating quietly and later being mistaken for a change in the friendship itself.