In this article, we will discuss gaming techniques to study species-tense forms of the Russian verb at the initial stage of teaching Russian as a foreign language. Game techniques belong to the group of interactive methods in modern education. Interest in them emerged when educational practice showed that positive changes in society could not be achieved within the framework of the traditional model of education. Game techniques contribute to the formation of foreign students communicative, linguistic and linguistic competencies, develop the ability to work in a team to defend their own opinion. Of particular relevance is the use of interactive techniques in the study of the species-temporal forms of verbs at the initial stage of teaching Russian as a foreign language. Develop and verify the effectiveness of the proposed in the article the methodology was carried out in 2016-2018, the experiential learning was conducted on the basis of the National Research Ogarev Mordovia State University. Analysis of the results of application of game methods in the study of species-tense forms of the Russian verb showed that the proposed method gave educational process more informed and fascinating character. Interactive tasks contributed to the development of communicative and linguistic competence of students and helped foreign students acquire social experience of interaction in the language environment.