How can an object reference in java hold the reference to a primitive double dimensional int array [duplicate]

Question

I have a piece of code-

public class Sudoku {
    static int[][] game;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int [][] games= new int[3][3];
        Object obj =games;
    }

}

My question here is how can the "games" reference variable be assigned to the reference variable of type "Object"? I thought the "ClassCastException" would be thrown at runtime. But the code compiles and runs fine. Isnt the reference variable "games" incompatible to be assigned to an Object reference because of 2 reasons- 1)"games" is the reference to a double dimensional int array, whereas "obj" is the reference to an Object. 2)int is clearly a primitive variable..how can it be assigned to a variable of type object? I am running this in the Intellij IDE.

Answer 1

Isnt the reference variable "games" incompatible to be assigned to an Object reference because of 2 reasons- 1)"games" is the reference to a double dimensional int array, whereas "obj" is the reference to an Object. 2)int is clearly a primitive variable

You are correct that int is a primitive type. However, the type of games in your example is int[][], not int, and is a subclass of Object.

Answer 2

if your code were

int [] games= new int[3]; 
Object obj =games; // will fail to compile, 

but declare game as int [][] games can be assigned to obj.