Trivia for
House of Games (1987) More at IMDb Pro »

• The numeral 187 appears in the film in different instances. A license plate reads "HSX 187". Also it is the number of the airport locker used at the end. 187 is the police code for murder.
  
  
• The hotel room that Mike takes Margeret to is room #1138 which is yet another reference to George Lucas's THX 1138 (1971).
  
  
• This was originally intended to be a larger-budget film with many "name" actors, but David Mamet chose to direct on his own with his wife (Crouse) and friends (Mantegna) in the cast.
  
  

• The red and white Cadillac convertible used by the con artists in this film also appears in the car dealer's showcase room in David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
  
  
• Ricky Jay is a sleight-of-hand artist and an acknowledged authority on the art of the con. In an NPR interview, Jay related that when David Mamet needed a short-change scam to be explained in "House of Games", he asked Jay for details of an authentic short-change hustle. However, Jay did not want to betray the confidence of the hustlers he knew who still used various short-change cons for their "livelihood". The envelope switch you see in the final film is an original switch invented by Ricky Jay specially for the film. Later, it was reported that an amateur thief had been caught attempting to use the switch as he had learned it from the film.
  
  
• According to Mamet, despite the excellent reviews the film received in a limited showing in four theaters, Orion decided against spending the money for the prints and publicity that would have accompanied a general release and sent the film almost directly to TV and video.
  
  
• Mamet’s first film as director. He replaced the original first choice, Peter Yates.
  
  

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