The Perfect Party Game – Create
=====================================
Note – This is a long, very detailed story about my attempts to create the perfect party game and the first time we played it with my girlfriend, her sister, and another couple. It starts off slow and you don’t get to see much action for a long time – hopefully I can make up for that in the last third of the story.
By the way: I still have the cards if anyone is interested in playing the game. 😉
=====================================
When I was 23, I invented the perfect adult party game.
Other games may be more popular in some respects, but for my purposes (and probably yours too) this is the greatest game ever made. I have dozens of friends and partners who back up my claims.
I never chose to share it but rather kept it for my own purposes, but now you will know the secret that will come in handy for you many times. It started with a few friends and after many experiments it has improved and I am proud to say that 9 times out of 10, it gets me to a deeper level with friends and strangers than before.
Let’s start with a simple hypothesis and objective. I would hazard a guess that more people would be willing to play “adult” games with their friends and neighbors if they could convince their partners. How do we get these partners involved?
How to boil a frog? If you put him in boiling water he will jump out. But if you put him in water he is comfortable with, he will sit there and slowly raise the temperature until he is boiled alive.
Combine this concept with a little misdirection and peer pressure, and you’re good to go.
That’s really all you need to know to recreate the perfect adult party game.
What? Do you want more? Okay, let’s start from the beginning.
this concept
My live-in girlfriend, Cheryl, met Denise through work. They soon became close friends and spent most lunches and breaks together. Many people believed they were related, and they looked very similar: a tall, slender blonde, with shoulder-length straight hair and above average, if not gigantic, breasts. I’m sure most red-blooded American boys can’t help but have fantasies of “twins” or “sisters” when they see these two hanging out together. Cheryl knew she was a very attractive object, but I honestly believe Denise never understood her ability to make a man’s blood boil.
After living together for a few weeks, we came together as a couple and generally had a very good time. Dave and I have many interests in common, he is a very intelligent man, has a great sense of humour, and apparently has a similar taste in women. Denise, although not the sharpest tool in the shed, is flirtatious, sweet and a little naïve. Cheryl is not much better in terms of innocence, but she is sharp, has a sharp wit and a playful attitude.
We really enjoyed each other’s company and over the next few months we found ourselves doing more and more things together. The only downfall to the relationship was that they lived about an hour, two hours away during busy times.
Cheryl and I have a great sexual relationship, she is very sociable, willing to experiment and is almost always ready. I believe Dave and Denise had almost as good a relationship. Over the months, our conversations got a little heated and Denise would always blush, but eventually she got the joke. Cheryl and Denise talk about their sex life and I sometimes hear things about them that turn me on;
I found myself fantasizing about the four of us like never before. I imagined being with Denise on my terms, in every possible position. When I lay in bed, even after our orgasm, I would think about what it would be like to share Denise with Dave while Cheryl waited for her turn, spurring us on, because I knew she was next. At one of our events, I saw Denise naked after a shower, bending over to fix the water knob, and the scene got etched in my brain. Soon, my fertile imagination started to imagine ways to bring the team together in a more “intimate” way.
We played a few card games occasionally, as well as Charades, Trivial Pursuit and a few other games, and although the comments were a little nasty at times, no action was taken. The subject of strip poker came up a few times and the girls joked about it as if we weren’t serious. The good news is that Dave did what he originally suggested.
I let my fertile imagination run wild on this subject for a while, and soon an idea came to mind.
Q: Is the game fair for everyone?
Answer: Obviously not. Some people like games of chance, some people like games of knowledge, and some people like games of skill. Some people like puzzles, some like to pursue trivia, some like poker. In our case, I usually win the trivia game, while Dave’s wife, Denise, enjoys the puzzles. Cheryl is addicted to card games.
Main idea: Can we meet every priority and eliminate excuses not to play?
Question: How do you introduce adult games to a group?
Answer: Very carefully. Suggest playing strip poker and screaming or laughing. Travel the world in bed and watch your neighbor’s wife make out. Maybe get everyone drunk and then suggest turning off the lights and playing hide and seek? There has to be a better solution.
Main idea: Is there a way to start an adult game that isn’t an adult game?
Q: Is there a way to overcome possible initial reluctance, especially when it comes to suggestive or sexy situations?
Answer: There’s an old saying: “It only takes a few drinks for a woman to start a lesbian adventure.” If that’s true, can this be taken advantage of? Some men and women are ready now but don’t want to admit it. Others just don’t want to go first. Others don’t want to be cowards. Let’s take advantage of that.
Key Takeaways: Can inherent peer pressure, liquid courage, and self-chosen challenges overcome reluctance?
Q: How complicated can a game be?
Answer: You have to be able to learn it in 30 seconds so no one can make the excuse that it’s too complicated, and you have to be able to play it drunk.
Main idea: Kissing – keep it simple, silly
I think the idea came to me one night when I was fantasizing about the four of us in bed. My solution started out pretty simple, but ended up being pretty ingenious if I do say so myself.
It’s a mix of Truth or Dare, Spin the Bottle, Trivial Chase, Strip Poker and more, all rolled into one.
I spent a few days researching the mechanics and gathering the actual materials, and I was able to do it at a very reasonable cost. I began play testing and scrapped two initial ideas before deciding on one that I felt really captured the essence of what I was looking for. After a few nights of quietly play testing and fine-tuning hypothetical scenarios, I began trying to schedule my first real play.
I have spent over a month working on the basics of the game and I felt it was time to give it a try. There is a craft show coming up this upcoming weekend just an hour from my home in Northwest Baltimore. I suggested to Cheryl that we invite Dave and Denise over and they could stay the night at our house so we could get an early start. They have stayed at our house several times before, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. The ladies sorted everything out and made plans for Dave and Denise to come over right after they got off work. We would eat dinner out and then check in at our accommodation before leaving the next morning. This scenario is ideal.
Initial
I arranged to have lunch with Dave on Thursday. I’m sure my call surprised him, but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. We don’t usually interact much other than on group outings.
We exchanged pleasantries while ordering barbecue, then found a booth to sit in.
“Dave, tell me, what is Dennis’s favorite drink?” I asked him (past tense).
“Probably a pineapple daiquiri, why?”
“Tomorrow night, when you guys come over, I have a new game I want to play, and I want everything to be perfect, including all the best liquid moral lubricants.” I replied with a sly smile.
“Oh, really? Tell me more.” He leaned forward, taking all of his attention away from the food for the time being.
“Let’s put it this way, it starts out restrained, but has the potential for endless entertainment, embarrassment, and debauchery. I don’t want to give away too many details, but it could get pretty crazy. If you can support me with this, I thought we might get a chance to see what our girls would be willing to do in an ideal situation, and I know I’d love to see both Denise and Cheryl pushed outside of their usual ‘safe’ zones.”
“Weren’t we talking about strip poker or something? I can tell you right now, Denise would never do that. I’ve discussed it privately and she definitely would not do it.”
“No, if the game gets crazy, it will happen gradually and they won’t realize it until hopefully it’s too late. This is an experiment. If it gets chaotic, I will claim the details of the game. Nothing. I asked.
“Can’t you tell me anything?” she pleaded.
“Conceptually, it’s pretty simple. Everyone has a lot of choices in how the game is played and what kind of ‘fines’ they pay. The fines increase gradually, and I have a lot of control over that. Think of it as a combination of the party games you already know, as well as more ‘less formal’ games.
“Like what is ‘low inhibition’?” He was definitely interested.
“There might be some awkward questions, some non-partner physical contact, definitely some drinking, some girl-on-girl contact, maybe some striptease, etc. We probably won’t get that far, but then again, who knows how it will go?
“Oh my god. This is so wonderful. Are you ready, Cheryl?”
“Cheryl doesn’t know either. It’s my baby, only you and I know. I assume you wouldn’t mind seeing Cheryl naked, or kissing Denise? Or how about measuring her breasts if you have to use your ‘tongue’?”
“Are you kidding me?” he replied. “My shorts probably ripped when she opened the first button.”
“Like I said, it probably won’t go that far, at least not the first time, but the possibility is there.”
“Count me in. Whatever you need, I’m there. This could be good.”
“Absolutely.” I offered a mock toast with my iced tea, which she accepted with a slight smile.
setting
Dinner was a great success. I chose the seafood house nearby, knowing the food there would be great but the portions weren’t huge. I didn’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable eating. During dessert, Cheryl dropped a bombshell that almost made me cancel the whole thing.
“We have to get back as soon as we can,” he said after refusing to refill his coffee. “Beth will be done with work soon and I don’t want to leave her hanging out waiting for us.”
“Beth?” I asked. “Why is your sister here?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, she’s going to the craft show with us tomorrow and I thought it would be easier for all of us to get out of here. You know how painful it is for her to get around because she doesn’t know the area.”
Beth is Cheryl’s sister and has just left the farm. As a child, she graduated high school early and decided to go to college to be near her sisters. She was several inches shorter than Cheryl, had dirty blonde hair and was more curvy. She plays hockey and has strong muscles and legs. She was in town for the past three weeks and lived about 20 minutes from campus. She has been creeping into my fantasies lately, too, but I barely recognize her so far.
On the car ride home I debated whether or not to postpone my plans to have a better time, but everyone was in a good mood and the girls were a little tipsy, so I couldn’t make a decision.
After a delicious dinner and a few drinks we were soon relaxing in the living room. Beth hadn’t arrived yet. Dave and I usually wear suits to work and today was no exception, so I announced that I wanted to get comfortable before turning on the blender. Everyone agreed and we quickly dressed and headed back to our room.
“Are you OK?” Cheryl asked as I put on my boxers and comfortable fleece shorts.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. But I keep getting these weird looks and I can swear you’re up to no good.” He looked at me with curious eyes.
Damn it, she knows me pretty well. “Not really, but a funny thing happened at work. Do you know Lenny, who I told you used to work for Milton Bradley?”
“Yes, I remember him, that annoying high pitched voice.” She clearly remembered him from our most recent Christmas party.
“He told me he got a game from the work group he was involved in and asked me if I could test it out for him. He said it was a party game. It looked fun. I told him I had company tonight, we went back to my office and he gave it to me. I went to the briefcase and pulled out some cards and a spinner and gave them to him separately.”
“So would you like to play with it tonight?”
“I don’t know, but I thought we could at least check it out.” I tried to act casual.
Then the doorbell rang and my sister came in. She threw the card on the bed. She was standing there in her panties looking at the card, when the doorbell rang. She grabbed the shirt I had picked out for myself and put it on so she could open the door.
“I think it’s fine, as long as it’s not too weird,” she said. “But I don’t know if Beth should be playing any games that involve drinking right now.”
“This is better than watching TV or playing Trivial Pursuit now,” I suggested.
“Amen,” she said to me at the door as she headed toward the living room.
Game Introduction
I was the first one to get dressed, so I went into the kitchen and made a pineapple daiquiri and then a strawberry margarita, neither of which were very strong. I still had plenty of Budweiser available for Dave and plenty of Guinness for me. Beth may be underage, but she is not in my house. However, she had to make do with what everyone else was drinking.
An introduction was made. This is the first time Dave and Dennis meet Beth. Everyone was sitting in the living room, with a variety of drinks in their hands and in between conversations I suggested we play a game I had played that day.
“It’s simple. These decks have different types of challenges on each card. Before you choose a card, you choose the type of challenge you want. There are 7 types in total. The first three are trivia questions. The first is a trivia question, two are hard true/false questions, three are “word definition” type questions, and the next three are activity type questions where there is a word puzzle test where you act out a word or phrases, a celebrity impersonation challenge, and a “picture” I took some cards from a deck I have.
“Once you choose the type of challenge you want to do, you can draw a card and find out what your actual challenge is. The answer to the question is on the back of the card.
“If you come across a challenge that requires us to guess, you can choose from 1 to 3 ‘helpers’ to guess for you. If anyone guesses correctly, you all win.
“After the challenge is over, you draw a card from the other pile, which is the reward. If your challenge fails, you must apply a penalty to the card. The penalty may require you to spin the wheel to choose how to complete it. If you win the challenge, you get to keep the card with a color underneath it, and you win.
“So this should be easy. First, choose a challenge type; there are seven challenges listed around the spinner in case you forget. Draw a challenge card. If you want a partner, select a partner. Follow the challenge. Draw if needed. Challenge fails, penalty, otherwise you collect all 7 different colors and win. Everyone looks at their cards and I give out some tickets to get a laugh out of.
“Any questions?” I asked.
“What if we don’t want to be punished?” Denise asked.
“I don’t know, let me look at the instructions.” I pretended not to know. “Ah, it seems I missed something, everyone has an “exit” card at the beginning, which can be used to refuse a punishment, but it can only be used once. Then, some “special” cards are mixed into the payment cards, the game can be changed to include more “chicken-out” cards. It says that you can also refuse to pay a penalty by taking a drink, answering a question and drawing another penalty card. A second penalty is given or you are out. Finally, it says that you can ‘barter’ for someone else to pay a punishment for you.
“Barter? How about that?” Cheryl asked.
“I don’t know, it didn’t say that.” I corrected. “Maybe you could offer to do one of those later, or trade special cards, whatever makes sense.”
“Why so many cards?” Dennis asked, this time looking at six separate piles held together by rubber bands.
“The problem gets more difficult with the color of the deck. I think the penalty color is more challenging too. I think we start with the easiest one. When you run out of cards, if the game goes on for that long, you shuffle more cards, so what do you think?” I asked, looking around, hoping for the best.
“I think it’s funny, I’ve actually never heard of a game like that, but what the heck,” Beth said.
The other girls looked at each other, and Cheryl was the first to blink. “Sure, why not? If it’s stupid or boring, we can just skip it and do something more interesting.”
Dennis responded in kind. “I agree, that sounds fun.”
This is how my particular game is ready for the first playthrough.
Step 1 – Warm-up
I gave Dave two challenge cards and told him to shuffle them together, while I also shuffled two punishment cards and five “special cards”. There are 30 cards in this deck. I estimate that about 30% are punishments we have to apply, or about 20 punishments, about 4 each. Then we have to quickly reveal our cards. I told everyone that the cards were labeled; the payoff cards were labeled “funny (35 cards)” and “weird (25 cards)”.
We pulled our chairs around the coffee table in front of the couch. I sat on the recliner, Beth sat on the kitchen chair to my left, and Denise sat on the left end of the couch to my right. Cheryl was next to her, and Dave sat on the other kitchen chair in front of me. Denise started playing the game after “The Spin-Off.”
The play started off well with some guessing questions and a “revolving door” performance by Denise. When it was her turn, we “noticed” that the instructions had a two minute limit for charades and a one minute limit for mimicry and drawing. We had a one minute hourglass timer that I “forgot” about. Soon everyone was active, louder and more lively.
Four of the specials were immediately drawn. Two were extra “chickens” that Beth and Dave had picked, one was a proxy that Cheryl had drawn that would allow her to have someone else take her place as the “punishment partner,” and the last one I had picked was “Time Warp,” allowing me to change the duration of the punishment.
