You've spent twenty minutes choosing something to watch. Neither of you cares what wins. The remote has had more attention than your partner.
A couples sex game is a decent excuse to change that. Cards and dice give you a nudge towards flirting, teasing and trying something you wouldn't normally suggest over dinner. The useful question is how much nudge you want: a quick roll, a cheeky challenge or a whole box of foreplay ideas.
Sex dice: less deciding, more flirting
Dice suit nights when you want a little surprise without learning rules for half an hour. Roll, see what comes up and decide if you fancy it. A suggestion landing by chance can feel less awkward than announcing a grand bedroom proposal.
There's something funny about outsourcing the first move to a tiny cube. Especially when the normally decisive one starts getting very interested in a reroll.
They also leave plenty of room to do your own thing. You're allowed to enjoy a suggestion for longer than the dice intended, ignore one that doesn't appeal or abandon the dice altogether. Nobody is sending the results to a league table.
Card challenges: good for a bit of cheek
Cards give you something to react to together. The dare that gets an immediate grin tells you rather more than another conversation about who's putting the bins out. So does the one your partner reads twice before asking, “Shall we?”
Challenge decks suit couples who enjoy a little build-up and a turn each. You don't need to become two different people to play. If you're both naturally silly, let it be silly. If taking charge appeals, that can be part of the fun too, provided you're both into it.
A game also gives you an easy opening for a want you've kept to yourself. “Actually, I've wanted to try that” is a lot more interesting than pretending you've got no opinion. Our guide to bringing up sex toys with your partner helps if the words keep getting stuck behind a nervous laugh.
Want the extras? Try a foreplay set
A game set makes sense when you fancy something to play with as well as something to read. The Adam & Eve Couples Foreplay Game Set includes challenge cards, sex dice, a feather tickler and bondage tape. That gives the suggestions some toys to work with, rather than leaving you to improvise everything.
You don't have to use the lot. Buying a box doesn't commit you to an evening of frantic item rotation. One thing you both enjoy beats a determined attempt to tick every object off.
If you'd rather choose your own extras, a blindfold is a small purchase with plenty of teasing potential. For other shared toys, our couples toy guide keeps the shopping tied to what you both want.
A bedroom game and a party game are different nights
Our adult games collection includes more than private games for two. Drinking and party games belong to a different sort of gathering. “Adult” on the box doesn't necessarily mean romantic, and adding your mates usually changes the evening somewhat.
For date night, pick something intended for a couple, with challenges that actually appeal to you. If your idea of fun is flirting and teasing, you don't need to buy the most outrageous game to prove a point.
And make passing easy. A card or a roll never obliges either of you to do something, and nobody owes a replacement dare for saying no. You can keep playing without turning a perfectly good night into an argument over cardboard.
The best result isn't finishing the deck. It's realising the game has been sitting untouched for a while because you've found something better to do.
A few more ideas for date night
- Dirty talk that sounds like you, for when you fancy being a little more forward.
- Flirting with your long-term partner, because familiar doesn't have to mean predictable.