"The Most Dangerous Game" is based on situational irony, which is a reversal of fortune that leads the protagonist and reader to a great truth.  Situational irony is usually focused on plot, and it occurs when action backfires, causing very opposite of what is expected, a kind of poetic justice.

Here are a few examples of situational irony:

• In the story, a big game hunter lands on an island owned by another big game hunter.
• A hunter becomes a better hunter after he is hunted himself.
• The most dangerous game is when the hunter, who previously did not care how the hunted felt, becomes the hunted.
• A man looking to hunt the most dangerous game (prey), thinking it is an animal, realizes it is actually man himself who is the most dangerous.
• A hunter gains his greatest advantage over his opponent once he is closest to death (or at least after his opponent thinks he is dead).
• A hunter who uses dogs to track the hunted becomes, in the end, a tasty meal for them himself.