Games was announced in the 28 Apr 1966 DV as one of Universal Pictures’ upcoming productions. According to an article in the 2 Oct 1966 NYT, producer George Edwards and director Curtis Harrington had recently been signed to a production deal with the studio following the release of their “modest science-fiction thriller” Queen of Blood (1966, see entry). Edwards and Harrington were reportedly unable to find an available script to their liking, so they co-wrote a twelve-page story treatment for Games and submitted it to Universal chief Lew Wasserman. After Gene Kearney completed the screenplay, it was sent to French actress Simone Signoret, whom Edwards and Harrington believed to be “ideally suited” for the role of “Lisa Schindler.”
       The budget was cited as “over $1 million” in a 19 Nov 1966 LAT article, but the 26 Jul 1967 Var listed a final cost of only $450,000.
       An item in the 11 May 1966 Var indicated that shooting might take place entirely in New York City, where the story is set. However, a news brief in the 16 Nov 1966 Var later announced that the entire picture would be filmed on the Universal Pictures studio lot in Universal City, CA. Principal photography began on 30 Nov 1966, as stated in a DV production chart published two days later.
       Theatrical release took place on 17 Sep 1967 at New York City’s Sutton Theater. Two months later, following the critical and commercial success of The Graduate (1967, see entry), in which Katharine Ross also appeared, Universal altered advertisements for Games to include Ross’s name in top billing, just after Simone Signoret’s and before James Caan’s. When the picture opened on 25 Jan 1968 at the Plaza Theater in Los Angeles, CA, advertisements in LAT listed Katharine Ross as “the exciting new star of ‘The Graduate’!”
       For his work on the film, Curtis Harrington received the Count Dracula Society’s Ann Radcliffe Award, which honored horror pictures, as noted in the 13 Dec 1967 Var.
       The 19 Nov 1966 LAT stated that fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, writer Anaïs Nin, poet-actor Cyril Delevanti, artist Renate Druks, and actresses Rachel Rosenthal and Cameron (a.k.a. Marjorie Cameron) would appear as party guests in the film’s opening sequence.