It tells the story of a wealthy investment banker who is given a mysterious birthday gift by his brother—participation in a game that integrates in strange ways with his everyday life.

The Game was well received by critics like Roger Ebert and major periodicals like The New York Times, but had middling box-office returns compared to the success of Fincher's previous film Se7en (1995).

On his birthday, he is surprisingly visited by his estranged younger brother Conrad, who gifts him an unusual present —a voucher for a "game" offered by a company called Consumer Recreation Services (CRS).

Though skeptical, he goes to the CRS office to apply, but the time-consuming psychological and physical examinations required irritate him, and he is later informed that his application has been rejected.

The anchor tells Nicholas that he is being watched by a tiny camera in the head of the clown and provides him with the telephone number for a CRS 24-hour emergency hotline.

More bizarre events continue happening; Nicholas initially thinks CRS are simply staging elaborate pranks, but then he starts to believe it is real when his business, reputation, and safety are endangered.

As he loses consciousness, she admits she is part of the scam and says he made a fatal mistake in giving his card security code over the phone.

While apologizing to her for his emotional neglectfulness, he learns that Jim Feingold, the CRS employee who conducted his tests, is an actor working in television advertisements.

Christine, realizing Nicholas's gun is not a prop, frantically tells him it is only a game; his finances are intact, and his family and friends are waiting on the other side of the door.

After a birthday party with friends, Christine (whose real name is revealed to be Claire) declines Nicholas' offer for a date as she has another job lined up in Australia.

[11] According to Fincher, there were three primary influences on The Game: Michael Douglas' character was a "fashionable, good-looking Scrooge, lured into a Mission: Impossible situation with a steroid shot in the thigh from The Sting".

[12] In an interview, Fincher explained that his film differed from others of that kind because "movies usually make a pact with the audience that says: we're going to play it straight.

'"[10] More revisions were made to the script, including removing a scene where Nicholas kills Christine and then commits suicide, as Fincher felt that it did not make sense.

[14] Later, Foster alleged that she and PolyGram had orally agreed that she would appear in the film, and when this did not transpire, she filed a $54.5 million lawsuit against the company.

Deborah Kara Unger's audition for the role of Christine was a test reel consisting of a two-minute sex scene from David Cronenberg's Crash.

[17] Principal photography began on location in San Francisco despite studio pressure to shoot in Los Angeles, which was cheaper.

Meanwhile, the close-up of Douglas trapped in the back seat was filmed on a soundstage at Sony Pictures Studios in a large water tank.

[4] The Criterion Collection released The Game on Laserdisc in 1997, with exclusive features including an alternate ending and audio commentary from the creators.

The website's critics consensus reads: "The ending could use a little work but this is otherwise another sterling example of David Fincher's iron grip on atmosphere and storytelling.

"[26] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[28] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, praising Douglas as "the right actor for the role.

"[32] Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B+" rating, and Owen Gleiberman wrote, "Emotionally, there's not much at stake in The Game—can Nicholas Van Orton be saved?

"[33] In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle wrote, "At times The Game is frustrating to watch, but that's just a measure of how well Fincher succeeds in putting us in his hero's shoes.

"[34] However, Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers felt that "Fincher's effort to cover up the plot holes is all the more noticeable for being strained...The Game has a sunny, redemptive side that ill suits Fincher and ill serves audiences that share his former affinity for loose ends hauntingly left untied.

[37][38]In the film notes of the Criterion edition, the director was referred to as incorporating elements of the writings of Franz Kafka, stating: Echoes of Franz Kafka are hard to miss in Nicholas's plight—like Josef K. in The Trial, he's caught in a series of senseless ordeals controlled by faceless people he can't begin to understand—and viewers may also think of Thomas Pynchon when it starts to appear that the conspiracy against Nicholas includes everyone in the story except him.

Fincher himself has described The Game as a postmodern version of A Christmas Carol, with Nicholas as a Scrooge-like emotional miser who regains his soul after passing through a whirlwind of life-changing encounters.