Abstract: The object of this research is the transformed phraseologisms determined through the method of continuous sampling in the journalistic texts of V. V. Nabokov. The subject of this research is the structural-semantic and functional-pragmatic peculiarities of transforms. The subject of this research is define by various “game” mechanisms of transformations in the area of phraseology, as a result of which the individual-authorial transformations ensure the implementation of the author's plan. The goal of this work is to determine the peculiarities of the authorial transformation of phraseological units in the context of language game, and establish the role of modified phraseologisms in enhancing the influencing potential of the journalistic text. The theoretical and methodological framework contains the works that view the phenomenon of language game and the general principles of occasional transformation of phraseological units. The author advances the hypothesis of the pragmatically justified use of transformed phraseologism, substantiated by the stylistic specificity of resorting to language game as a means of creating certain expressive effect and implementation of the author's plan in the journalistic text. The scientific novelty consists in the complex structural-semantic and functional-pragmatic approach towards studying the transformed phraseological units. This article is first to describe the individual-authorial transformations of phraseological units in the journalism of V. V. Nabokov. It is noted that in the journalistic texts of V. V. Nabokov, the language game pursues both, aesthetic and functional-pragmatic goals, which correlate with the specificity of journalistic genre. The use of familiar, easy to reproduce phraseological units creates a cultural presupposition, which in the context of language game acquires additional connotations, substantiated by game transformation of the usual form and the meaning of phraseological locution, which contributes to the periphrastic expression of the author's attitude towards the topic under review.