House of Games was released as a film in 1987, marking Mamet’s directorial debut. The screenplay was published by Grove Press. Dr. Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) is a psychiatrist whose patient, a compulsive gambler, owes money to a man named Mike (Joe Mantegna). Ford visits Mike’s “House of Games” — a backroom poker club — to negotiate, and instead finds herself drawn into the world of the confidence game.
Mike offers to teach her how cons work, and Ford, fascinated by the psychology of deception (it mirrors her own profession, after all — therapists and con artists both manipulate trust), agrees to participate. What follows is a series of escalating cons — the short con, the long con, the sting — each more elaborate than the last, until Ford discovers that she has been the mark all along.
Mamet’s insight is that the con and the therapeutic relationship share the same structure: both depend on trust, both involve the manipulation of narrative, and both work because the mark (or the patient) wants to believe. The film’s flat, affectless acting style — Mamet directed his actors to deliver their lines without emotional coloring — reinforces the theme: in a world where everyone is performing, sincerity is the most convincing performance of all.
Collecting House of Games
Published screenplay (Grove Press, New York, 1987): Trade paperback.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $10–$25
- Signed: $30–$80