Game night

I've got games on the mind, kinky games, that is. It all started when Chris, on his twitter account, mentioned the idea of a spanko version of Apples to Apples. I admit I love this game, and even when I play with vanilla friends they seem to save every mildly kinky card in the deck for me. So I got to thinking... how could it become more spanking friendly? I eventually devised a set of rules for Spanko Apples to Apples (which I'll share with you below), but this set my mind onto some lovely tangents.

Suzy & Todd of American Spanking Society have developed their very own Spankopoly board game, so clearly there is a market for more spanking friendly games. In fact, many of us play "spanking games" in our daily life, we probably just don't call them that. There are many aspects of gameplay in kink, whether it's incorporating role play into your spanking sessions, or simply integrating a little competition into a spanking scene (don't move or I'll start over, guess the implement, even counting strokes). I imagine this is part of the fun for a lot of us.

Vanilla games that have point systems lend themselves especially well to a little bit of spanking fun. I've played too many card games to count where the loser takes the difference in points (or the number of points the winner had, or the number of points the loser had, or really any formula derived from any of those point tallies) as strokes in a spanking. While fun, they have always left me in a bit of a quandary - I am highly competitive and play to win, but I have no desire to top and consider the best prize to be getting a spanking for myself :)

So - do you play spanking games? Which are your favorites? Do you save them for special occasions, or use them anytime? What are the stakes and do you secretly hope to win or lose? I can't wait to hear!

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Spanko Apples to Apples:

If you've ever played the game before, you know that each round one player takes the role of judge. He or she selects a theme card and all of the other players pass over a card from their hand that the judge will agree best suits the theme.

Once all the cards are in (and shuffled to maintain anonymity), the judge picks through and chooses the card which best encapsulates their idea of the theme. The person who put that card in gets a point, and eventually a winner is declared by the person who has the most points.

When my friends and I play, we often comment on the other cards, occasionally laying them out in order of least likely to the best - this was my inspiration. In the spanko version, in addition to selecting the round's winner, the judge will also select a loser! Losers collect strokes the same way winners collect points. You can choose how to award the strokes - a set number (1, 2, 3?) for each round you lose, or perhaps a progressive penalty: one stroke for the first loss, two for the second, four for the third?

Once a winner is declared and the game is over, the players are given their strokes. The winner is exempt from any of the strokes he or she earned during the game and has the added pleasure of selecting the implement to be used on the other players.

Depending on the number of players and implements you have on hand, it may be fun to begin the game by designating a number of implements that is one less than the number of player . For example, if 5 people are playing, you may set aside: a hand spanking, a paddle, a cane, and a belt. At the end of the game the winner decides who gets spanked with what, with each implement getting used. If there are too many players or not enough implements, you can vary the rules accordingly :) Of course, spankers playing the game may wish to designate a spankee to take their strokes.

Broken rules, broken promises

I broke a rule today.

Not on purpose, I didn't even realize it at first. It was one of those little rules that almost exists only to be broken - that line you cross when you want to be in trouble, but not too much trouble.


I broke a rule today.

Of course it isn't a rule anymore. There haven't been rules for too long. There haven't been rules since I walked out his door, shattered. Since the night, not too long after, that he walked out my door with both of us pretending it wasn't goodbye.

For so long after there was just the hurt that's left behind when love moves on. No room in my heart or mind to dwell on the physical loss. No time to remember how his hand felt tangled in my hair; what his belt sounded like, exploding across my skin; how tightly his arms always wrapped around me after. Only later, once the emotional hurts had begun to heal could I remember, and remembering, begin to yearn.

Even this is new. Not the yearning of a young girl, wishing and waiting for a taste of the forbidden world she has craved as far back as she can remember; full of hope and fantasy, edged with a fluttering nervousness born of stepping off the safe path into the unknown. Nor is it the yearning of a woman who knows her lover's hand as well as her own and fears as well as worships it. Whose nerves tingle not from awaiting the unknown, but from surrendering once again to the brilliant pleasure and pain that can only be had together.

No, this is a bright glimmer of hope and desire, flashing hotly then quickly dimmed by the memories of how sharp and deep that pain can be when the pleasure is snuffed out, when trust is met with broken promises and disregard. This is the yearning of a woman - older and perhaps wiser. Gentle, tentative, the soft glow of her desire fading into the darker shadows of her doubt.

Time does heal. Light and dark war and shift, settling into a new equilibrium, perhaps more cautious and less carefree, but comfortable. Right.

I broke a rule today.

I smiled as I realized that, knowing that next time it will be not a slip of the mind, but because I meant to. Because girls who break rules must pay the price. And despite everything, I still love that price.