The poem opens with a violent act: an axe comes down and finds the speaker's head. But the tone is oddly casual. The head becomes "very pretty beef," as if the speaker is looking at their own body the way a butcher would, with a flat, almost cheerful detachment. The title, "Game," adds to this. It could mean the wild animals people hunt, or a game in the sense of play, and the poem seems to hold both meanings at once.
The last two lines shift the picture. The speaker "stayed and played a dark stone," which suggests a piece in a board game, or perhaps the speaker has turned into a stone. Being "round and great" sounds like quiet satisfaction. Judging by the imagery, the speaker doesn't resist the violence but accepts it, even finds a kind of dignity in becoming an object. The mood is eerie and darkly humorous, calm on the surface and unsettling underneath.