This proposal sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher where Wyke's imagination ends and reality begins.

Shaffer said the play was partially inspired by one of his friends, composer Stephen Sondheim, whose intense interest in game-playing is mirrored by the character of Wyke, and by mystery writer John Dickson Carr, whose stories featured complex plots and seemingly "impossible" crimes.

[1] The play also transferred to the United States and opened on Broadway on November 12, 1970, at the Music Box Theatre, which ran for 1,222 performances.

Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter starred as Andrew Wyke and Milo Tindle, with other parts listed as played by Stanley Wright, Sydney Maycock and Liam McNulty.

In 1972, Shaffer adapted his play for film, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.

[citation needed] In 2022, Bengali director Dhrubo Banerjee's first web series, titled Tiktiki, which stars Kaushik Ganguly and Anirban Bhattacharya in the lead roles.