Jouer des tours

The word “tour” in Old French - derived from Latin tornus, meaning “a turn” or “a rotation” - originally referred to a movement or action, especially a circular one. Over time, the term took on the sense of a performance, stunt, or maneuver. From there, jouer un tour (to play a turn) came to mean executing a clever or unexpected trick, often with a humorous or mischievous edge.

You’ll still see the word in that sense today:

un tour de magie (a magic trick)
un mauvais tour (a dirty trick)

Much like a magician misdirects your attention with sleight of hand, when someone joue un tour, they’re pulling off something surprising; sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating, always unexpected.

Examples

Ma mémoire me joue des tours ces jours-ci; j’oublie tout !
My memory is playing tricks on me these days;  I forget everything!

Le vent nous a joué un sale tour en renversant toutes les chaises du jardin.
The wind played a dirty trick on us by knocking over all the chairs in the garden.

Il adore jouer des tours à ses collègues, mais personne ne rit sauf lui.
He loves playing tricks on his coworkers, but no one laughs except him.