Great point, dpg.

The reason is complicated: the city is isolated by a force field, and largely automated. Its citizens have long ago forgotten secrets that their ancestors knew. The upshot is, nobody understands the technology that makes their city work.

Turns out, this was the intention of the city’s founders (this is all backstory which BARELY even appears in the script itself–too boring). These founders programmed holographic “gods” based on revolutionary, Artificial Intelligence technology. These fake gods demand that The Arena take place annually in their honor (the founders intended it to clear the streets of lowlifes and thin the population), and since nobody realizes they’re just holograms, everyone obeys.

Jake, our protagonist, lives outside the city. He’s one of the few living men who can work with Old Age Tech (such as artificial intelligence software). He programs an AI named Simon, whom he surgically implants into his brain, allowing him to calculate physics with mathematical precision. Word reaches a citizen of the city–last year’s winner of The Arena–who kidnaps Jake’s wife to goad him into playing the game. This previous champion wants to dissect the technology in Jake’s head so he can control the fake gods and rule the city.

Now how to cram all that into one logline…? Haha