Introducing sex games into your relationship can be a great way to keep your sex life exciting and varied. For starters, games can broaden your sexual horizons and help you explore things you otherwise might not. Sex games can also promote playfulness and silliness in the bedroom, as well as bring you and your partner closer together, build intimacy, and improve your sexual communication skills. Here are a few sex games to try.‍

Free sex games ‍

There are plenty of sex games you can try that are completely free or require just a minimal amount of DIY. All you’ll need is a consenting partner(s), a positive attitude, and just a bit of creativity. ‍

1. Sex In A Jar‍

To play this game, you’ll just need a pen, paper, and two jars, cups or bowls. With a partner, tear up some pieces of paper. Then, write down 10 to 20 body parts and 10 to 20 verbs. Then, fold up the pieces of paper and put the body part slips in one jar, and the verb slips in the other. “Make sure the verbs are gentle verbs, like lick, suck, tickle, touch, massage, etc,” Gabi Levi, sex expert and creator of erotica website Shag Story tells O.school.

Then, without looking, grab a slip from the verb jar and the body part jar. Whatever the slips of paper tell you to do, you have to do on your partner! It could be as innocent as "tickle ear" or as naughty as "massage genitals!"

“That's what keeps it interesting,” Levi shares.

2. Guess That Sensation‍

Gigi Engle, certified sex coach, sexologist, and author, suggests a sensation play game as another free sex game option. The items you’ll need are a timer or timer app, various objects around the house, and blindfold or fabric that can work as a blindfold.

For this game, you’ll set a timer for 15 minutes. One partner should play the receiver and one the giver. The receiver wears a blindfold, then the giver finds things around the house they can use to touch them with. 

For example, Engle suggests, “Running a feather down their legs, grabbing an ice cube from the freezer tray and running it down their inner thighs or over the nipples, or dribbling some melted ice cream over their stomach and lick it off.” 

The receiver should lie back and enjoy it. Once the timer goes off, have the receiver try to guess what every object was. You get five points for every right answer. Then, switch places and go again. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.‍

3. This or that‍

This game requires nothing but your bodies and your imagination, but you can also choose to incorporate pleasure products, sensation play tools, or household items. The giver will try out two different sensations on the receiving partner, which could be on the genitals or on other body parts. Then, the receiver tells the giver which one they like more, A or B. Then make a small tweak to the one that they choose and have them choose again, which one do they like, A or B? ‍

Caitlin V., M.P.H., Sex Coach and Clinical Sexologist for Royal suggests this game as a fun way to learn about your partner's preferences, as well as deepening your own skills as a lover.

4. Dom for a day‍

This game is a fun way to play around and experiment with power dynamics, and it can be an entry point into BDSM for beginners. Before you engage in this game, give your partner a list of boundaries and activities that are off-limits, known in the kink world as “hard limits”. You may also want to think of some safe words so you and your partner can signal that they want to stop at any point. 

After getting consent and taking any necessary safety measures, determine who the boss will be. You can decide this with a simple coin toss or rock-paper-scissors, or make this one of the prizes for one of the aforementioned games. Once you’ve chosen a day, the dom then gets to dictate fun, kinky activities, and actions that the submissive (sub) must perform. You can even try a little bit of light bondage or some hair-pulling, which can be hot if done safely. 

You can have your partner sneak into the bathroom at work and snap a naughty pic, have them put on a specific outfit you love, or make them get on all fours and spank themselves while you listen on the phone or watch on video chat. With a little creativity, the possibilities are endless.

Sexting games ‍

With the help of our digital devices, some of the hottest foreplay and sex you can have, doesn’t even have to be IRL.‍

5. Sexy Storytelling‍

To play, one partner begins by texting the other an opening line from an erotic story. Sarah Melancon, PHD, sociologist and clinical sex and relationships expert for Sex Toy Collective mentions that partners can garner inspiration from a real erotic novel or story they’ve read, or make it up entirely. The other partner then responds with the second line. Each partner continues replying to each other, back and forth, building the story as they go. To be you and your partner have an idea of what kind of things you’re each into and what is off-limits, try filling out and exchanging your O.School Orgasm Order Forms beforehand. 

Not only is this game a fun way to learn about your partner’s desires and fantasies, but it can also be a great way to build anticipation, excitement, and ideas for an eventual in-person encounter. 

6. Guess that body part‍

For this game, it’s time to bust out your phone camera, and maybe an editing app. To play, one partner will take a photo of one of their body parts or area of the body. Ideally, the photo should be a close-up, and somewhat obscure. This is where you can get creative with editing apps, blurring the photo, pixelating it, adjusting or inverting the lighting, etc. You can eventually get to your genitals, but this is a chance to highlight and eroticize other body parts like the lower back, behind the ear, and the clavicle. Then once the photo is ready, you’ll send it to your partner, and have them guess the body part. If they get it right, they get five points. 

Before you begin, set a specific amount of rounds, and a prize for the winner (something like a sexy coupon, a sultry voice recording, or a naughty video) and once you’ve finished going back and forth with sending and guessing, whoever has the most points at the end wins. ‍

7. App-based sex games‍

There’s an app for everything, and that includes sex games. Wheel Of Foreplay, for example,  is a site that provides people with a plethora of imaginative erotic activities to explore. First, you pick your “pack”, which include options such as, “Going The Distance” for long-distance partners, “Push It Real Good” for a more physically-focused option, “Cosmic Connection” to deepen your intimacy, and even “I Touch Myself”, for solo exploration. Once you’ve settled on a pack, you’re taken to a “wheel” to spin, with around three to four categories. Depending on the category you land on, a card will be randomly chosen and assigned to you, ranging from tasks, activities, challenges, objects, reflective questions, and more, along with a detailed description. Next to the card is a share button, which copies the link to your clipboard so you can easily share it with a partner, or bookmark for a later time.

Kindu is a Tinder-style erotic foreplay app that helps you get to know your partner’s fantasies and desires, without fear. Both partners download and sign up for the app, then connect profiles. Partners are shown various sexual scenarios and activities as “cards” on their respective accounts, which they can mark as a “Yes, I’m totally down for this”, “Maybe, I’m open to exploring this”, or “Absolutely not”. Partners are only notified and shown the cards in which they matched, meaning the activities they both chose “Yes” or “Maybe”, so there is no pressure or fear of judgment. It’s like a yes/no/maybe list, but with more privacy. ‍

Sex games for long-distance couples‍

Have a long-distance partner or romantic interest? Here are a few games you can try to help you and your boo connect sexually.‍

8. 20 Naughty Questions‍

We all know 20 questions, but this naughty version is great for long-distance partners. While video-chatting with a partner, you’ll each take turns asking each other trivia questions about yourselves (think “What’s my favorite color? What’s my favorite position? Where was our first kiss?). If they get your question wrong, they need to remove an item of clothing (and vice versa). Lauren, sex educator, and founder of Stay Sexual, promotes this game as a way to get to know your partner better and watch them take off their clothes! “Once things heat up, the loser can't cum until the winner says so,” she suggests. ‍

9. DJ Vibez‍

If you have the means, there is no shortage of app-controlled options that are great sex toys for long-distance couples. To use these kinds of toys, simply follow the instructions to turn on and pair the toy to the app. The partner wearing the (fully-charged) toy can give access to the “controlling” partner by having them download the app as well and connecting to the wearer’s toy. This allows the controlling partner to play around with the intensity levels, different pulsating modes, speeds, and more. With We-Vibes toys, the controlling partner can also create a custom vibration setting (you can even make it replicate the beat of a song). Partners can do this while having phone sex, over video chat, or just to tease and get their partner riled up throughout the day.

10. Sexual bucket list‍

Together, on a shared google doc, you and your partner will add sexual scenarios or activities you’ve never done before that you want to try. These can be solo or partnered sexcapades. You can make it more exciting by adding a little blurb with details about why you think it would be so hot, how you would want it to go down, etc. Reading each other’s entries can be a major turn-on, while teaching each other about your sexual fantasies and deepening your connection.

Sex games you can buy‍

Have a little cash to spare? There are plenty of titillating sex games you can buy, but here are a few we recommend. ‍

11. Tango Kit‍

Tango is a company that develops research-based sex and intimacy games in hopes of improving a couple’s intimacy and deepening their sexual connection with each other. They have a variety of “kits”, including Spank and Restraint, among others, each with a different theme. Each kit is designed to be an erotic Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, and include pleasure products depending on the theme, from sensation play products to impact play products. They also include mix and match activity cards as well as guides to help you through stages of arousal, play, and aftercare!‍

12. Foreplay In A Row‍

Foreplay In A Row is a naughty take on the classic game Connect Four. Each player receives white or pink chips, all which have erotic acts printed on them. Taking turns dropping your chips, your goal is to get four of your color chips horizontally, vertically, or diagonally in a row. Once a partner has four in a row, the losing partner must act out each of the activities on the chips! Though, in reality, everyone’s a winner, as you get to have a blast getting down and dirty with your boo after some healthy competition!

The bottom line‍

As long as you and your partner are both on board, any of these games can inject your relationship with a little extra spice, all while improving your communication skills, building intimacy, and bringing playfulness into the bedroom!