Originally Posted by
ismellfish2
I don't get it. A road bike has infinite play. The cranks spin backwards freely at a stop. On a fixed bike it doesn't, but if it has some slop in the middle at the tightest point the chain is too loose. I guess I could see what you mean if you're just feeling whether the chain can wiggle up and down, but that's not what the OP meant.
If you apply forward pressure on the crank and don't let the rear wheel turn, the chain (the top section, anyway) will be "tight" on any bike. I assumed that was what the OP meant by "almost no discernible play in the chain".