Simplest project (pom.xml file) should look like:
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<parent>
<groupId>com.google.code.maven-play-plugin</groupId>
<artifactId>play-app-default-parent</artifactId>
<version>1.0.0-beta8</version>
</parent>
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>test</groupId>
<artifactId>test</artifactId>
<version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>play</packaging>
<name>Play! Framework Maven Test Project</name>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>com.google.code.maven-play-plugin</groupId>
<artifactId>play-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<extensions>true</extensions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
For Play! 1.3.x version use different parent:
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<parent>
<groupId>com.google.code.maven-play-plugin</groupId>
<artifactId>play13-app-default-parent</artifactId>
<version>1.0.0-beta8</version>
</parent>
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>test</groupId>
<artifactId>test</artifactId>
<version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>play</packaging>
<name>Play! Framework 1.3.x Maven Test Project</name>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>com.google.code.maven-play-plugin</groupId>
<artifactId>play-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<extensions>true</extensions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
For more sample projects go to test projects.