While traveling through Europe after college, Barbara Taylor of Ottawa, Ontario, entered France and had to pass through customs. She pulled her passport out of her purse and handed it to the agent. Wedged into the booklet was a photograph of a smiling Taylor showing off a skimpy lingerie outfit. “I had no idea how that photo got there,” she recalls, “but I remember an incredible feeling of horror when it fell onto the agent’s desk.”
When he saw the photo, the customs agent broke into a big grin. He returned Taylor’s passport and the photo, and said, “A special welcome to France.”
This Magic Moment
Time passed. Taylor married, pursued a career in publishing, and forgot all about the incident. Eventually, she decided to write a self-help book on keeping the romantic spark alive in long-term relationships. “I wanted to identify all the ingredients of ‘happily ever after,’” she explains, “and figured that many other people did, too.”
Taylor interviewed couples for her book, and learned that a good deal of the “glue” in their relationships had to do with magical moments they’d shared. Quite a few had to do with little erotic escapades that were not only intimate but a bit daring. She wanted her book to encourage those memorable zingy moments. “But the more I thought about it, the less happy I was with a book concept. I wanted to encourage playful, daring, fun. Instead of a book, a game involving daring escapades felt like a better way to go.”
No Game Board
Taylor bought some couple-oriented erotic board games. She enjoyed some of them. But even the best games had what she considered a serious flaw. “By their very nature, board games are a ‘time out’ from real life. I wanted my game to be part of real-life—to spice it up.”
Taylor interviewed more than 100 couples and asked them to recall sexually-charged incidents that had enhanced their relationships. She turned those escapades into “Wildly Sexy Dares,” an ingenious game of erotic surprises. “Just when you thought you’d run out of fresh ideas to tantalize and delight your spouse,” Taylor explains, “Wildly Sexy Dares provides 175 fun, sexy, deliciously risky experiences to try. That’s why I call it ‘the game of naughty adventures for couples who think they’ve done it all.’”
“Wild Sexy Dares” begins with both lovers declaring a dream prize they’d like if they win. “We encourage the prize to be a fun couple thing,” she explains, “a weekend getaway, a day at a spa, something they both like to do that makes them feel close.”
Mild, Hot, Extra-Spicy
The game comes with 150 “dare” cards—75 for him, 75 for her. Each deck is divided into three levels of play: mild, hot, and extra-spicy.
In addition, each card contains a Dare worth a certain number of points, a Double-Dare worth more points, and possibly a Bonus Dare worth even more. Players win points for accomplishing the dares they select. The spicier the activity, the more points. Players can raise the stakes further by wagering some of their points on 25 Challenge cards. The first player to accumulate 1000 points wins the prize. “Actually,” Taylor explains, “both players win because the game is so much fun, and because both share the prize.”
The dares get played out over several weeks or months as players weave the naughty antics from their cards into their daily lives. “One really fun aspect of the game is that your partner can fulfill a dare when you least expect it. So the dares are daring, and their fulfillment is often very surprising and exciting. That combination creates the magical moments that couples recall fondly for years. The greatest aphrodisiac is the mind. And just like in a good suspense movie, the build-up the game provides is often half the fun.”
Here’s a Mild Dare for her: Place a pair of sexy panties in his pocket before he leaves for work (5 points). For the Double Dare, the panties go not into his pocket, but instead, around an item he uses in front of others, for example, his cell phone. (10 extra points). She earns 15 Bonus points if he tells her that someone else noticed the panties before he did.
Here’s a Mild Dare for him: Kiss her while in the middle of a crosswalk, in front of a row of cars stopped at the light (5 points). The Double Dare involves making it a long, intense movie star kiss (10 extra points). He earns 15 Bonus points if cars start honking.
In the Hot category for her: Snuggle up in bed and provide him with a vivid description of the most erotic dream you’ve ever had. For the Double Dare, confess a sexy experience that pre-dates your current relationship.
In the Extra-Spicy category for him, one Dare involves wearing a thick rolled up sock in his pants at a club or in his bathing suit at the beach (15 points). For the Double Dare, he poses for photos. He gets 25 Bonus points if anyone asks, “Is that for real?”
While designing “Wildly Sexy Dares,” Taylor recalled her experience entering France. It became an Extra-Spicy card For Her that involves sexy photos mixed into the pages of a book he’s reading.
Challenge cards are sexy contests. In one, both partners imagine a new sex toy for pleasuring the other. The card instructs them to create a prototype using household items. They wager points on who can up with the most outrageously fun plaything.
Fun At Any Comfort Level
In many couples, one person might be adventurous enough to try Extra-Spicy dares, while the other is bashful and might have difficulty with even the Mild dares. Such couples can still enjoy the game. “Every person has a personal comfort level,” Taylor explains. “It should be respected.” Players select their own dares, the ones that appeal to them, ones they feel they can accomplish. Their partner doesn’t dictate or even make requests. And you don’t have to perform all the dares in your deck to win the game. The spicier dares are worth more points. But if you perform mild dares frequently, the points add up quickly. Taylor compares “Wildly Sexy Dares” downhill skiing. “You can be a beginner and have as much fun on the slopes as an advanced skier. No matter what your level, the fun comes from getting out on the slopes and skiing—and pushing yourself within your comfort level to do a little more than you’ve done before. The same goes for ‘Wild Sexy Dares.’ No matter what your personal comfort level, you can have fun and in your own way act wild and sexy and daring.”
While creating the game, Taylor tried to predict which dares would be most popular with players. From audience feedback, she discovered that her predictions were wrong: “Every couple is different. What delights them is highly individual. Some people love creating naughty fortune cookies. Others go wild overpainting lingerie on each other. Some can’t get enough of arranging to meet the partner wearing nothing but a raincoat. We’ve received lots of reactions, including many stories about wild sexy escapades players have enjoyed that are not in the game. We’re saving them and if we ever produce a sequel, ‘More Wildly Sexy Dares,’ we may use them.”
Falling in Love All Over Again
Taylor gains the most satisfaction knowing that her game has made a real difference in some couples’ relationships. “Just the other day, we got an email from a woman who said she never thought she had the courage to do one of the Extra Spicy dares. She did other dares but kept thinking about the one that was beyond her. Then one day she held her breath and tried it—and she and her husband reveled in naughty fun.”
Falling in love, committing yourself to another person—that’s a big risk, a wild sexy dare if you will. But as the years pass and things become routine, you forget that you ever did anything so daring. The game brings back the feelings of discovery and adventure that makes people fall in love in the first place. If you like surprise parties, you’ll love “Wildly Sexy Dares.” It’s 175 surprise parties in one box.
Taylor manufactures and markets Wildly Sexy Dares through her company, Innocent Fun, of Ottawa.
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