The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 plus 6 letter word DUCKS AND DRAKES
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
D
U
C
K
S
A
N
D
D
R
A
K
E
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Game/birds" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case game/birds = ducks and drakes.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.