“What I like most about our game is that it quickly puts you in the right mood.”

You have your everyday chores, your job, your children – long-standing relationships often take a toll on a couple’s love life. Keeping things alive and well in the bedroom can become a challenge. When trying to overcome this challenge, many turn to erotic board games. However, when Agnese Spravnika and her husband looked at the products available on the market, they were less than thrilled. Ultimately, the couple decided to get creative themselves, and last year, their company OpenMity launched the “Sex Memory Game.” How can this product breathe new life into the sex lives of couples? Which other products does the OpenMity range include? Those are two of the questions we are going to answer in our interview with the company founder.

OpenMity have released a board game called the “Sex Memory Game”. What kind of game exactly are we talking about and who should play it?
Agnese Spravnika: When describing our game, I could quote one of our customers: “We have been looking for a sex game that was more advanced than others… This is it! Not for the weak or romantic … this is for couples who want to get busy.” This perfectly describes our game; we basically made it for ourselves—a busy couple with kids, in a relationship for more than 10 years. This game is intended to help couples reignite their sex life, forget the routine, and inspire them to try things that have been forgotten or never even thought of.

If we categorise games in thee levels—romantic, naughty and kinky—this one falls into the “naughty” range, because it has elements such as Face Sitting, Rim Jobs, Sex Toys, Filming the Act, Erotic Massages, Blindfolds, Light Bondage, and many more.

At the same time, for very kinky couples, who like to have more BDSM elements in their sex life, we are working on a version for you, too. In the kinky version of our “Sex Memory Game” we are planning to add elements like pegging, golden showers etc., but that’s still in the development phase, so stay tuned!

How did you come up with the idea of creating this game?
Together with my husband. We have gone through different phases during these 10 years together. Now that we have two small kids, we’ve realised how easy it is for us to lose touch with each other during the daily grind, but it does not have to be that way. My husband and I tried several sex board games, but we realized that they take too much time to play or, in some games, you must “be ready for sex” the entire time (well, we’re not 18 anymore, after all). Other games were just plain boring, and the flow was not smooth and playful. So, there was only one thing we could do – make our own game!

Could you summarise the rules of the game for us? Which aspect of the game do you like most?
The “Sex Memory Game” is very simple to set up and play. Basically, one person goes first and flips the cards over to find a match. If it’s a match – great, you get to go again! If it’s not, then it’s no longer your turn. If you get a match with the “Use Now” label on it, place that match on your “Use Now” square card. If not, just place the match next to you.

When you have filled up both spaces with the “Use Now” cards, the player who has both filled gets to do just that. They can choose one of the matches and use it right then and there. (And it has to be done within the time limit.)

We have created two versions of our game:

With naughty pictures: this includes erotic “18+” photos on the cards. There are two reasons for this: First, so that the game can be played without too much reading. The pictures are self-explanatory.
Second, to stimulate the fantasy. It will be almost like watching adult movies together with your love.

With sensual pictures: this includes artistic pictures that are not always self-explanatory but create an intimate mood. This version would be better for couples who want to spice up their sex life but don’t enjoy explicit pictures.

What I like most about our game (and what our customers appreciate) is that it quickly puts you in the right mood. This is extremely important for women, because we all know that the biggest erogenous zone is the brain. Also, the photos are self-explanatory you don’t need to bother much with reading—just look at the photo and proceed. Here is what Ashley wrote in her review: “While the game is super sexy and we were both very turned on, it was also fun. We were laughing and flirting the whole way through. And I think we were both picturing doing each of the things on the cards.”

Can you give us an example of the activities you have on the cards?
In the game we have two types of cards: “Use Now” cards, which can be played immediately when the matching cards have been found, and the cards that are handed out when the winner has been determined.

From the “Use Now” cards my favourite is: “The man lies on his back while the woman straddles him with her vagina pressed against his lips so that she can see his face. The man stimulates her vagina with his tongue.”

But the #1 card in the whole game is: “The woman puts on headphones and turns on the music, so that she can’t hear anything else. Her hands are bound to the bed and her eyes are blindfolded. The man performs oral sex, and afterwards other sexual positions can be chosen.”

What would you say is the most important lesson you have learned about designing erotic games in the process, from the first idea to the finished product?
I think the most important thing is to “test, test, and test again”. What you have designed in your mind is one thing; how it performs in real life is something completely different. Our first game came together very, very slowly… The idea for the game was born somewhere in the autumn of 2016, but the first game was only released in the spring of 2018. We are both perfectionists, so we wanted to make it flawless before releasing it onto the market.

More importantly, we are constantly improving our game: We collected feedback from our customers and updated the rules and some game cards before releasing the next lot. There was lots of positive feedback, such as the one we received from one of our customers: “The game is amazing! Super fun for me and my husband! Thank you for putting the spark back in our marriage!” That gives us energy to keep working on new products and put our full effort into them.

Do you have plans to release your games and other products in multiple languages in the future?
Yes. We are planning to release our game in German and Dutch in the near future. Other languages are also planned. I think that it’s a huge advantage to have such a game in your native language. Sex is all about relaxing and enjoying the time together with your love and there is no time for getting distracted by concentrating on reading the text in another language.

Before you released the “Sex Memory Game”, did you have previous experiences with either game design or the erotic industry?
Honestly, no. My educational background is all about finance. I have a Master’s degree in Mathematical Economics, and before I decided to turn to this exciting industry, I worked as a finance controller in an international IT Company for ten years. But truth be told, I got bored and wanted to have something of my own. I’m happy that I decided to quit my comfortable job and establish our company, “OpenMity”. As one of our friends said, “You guys must have the best job ever!’’

Sure, it’s been challenging. Advertising is a bit complicated in our industry, but we are slowly getting there.

Besides your game, you are also offering postcards with naughty but also funny messages in your online shop. Could you tell us a bit more about this side of OpenMity? Who are the customers that buy these cards?
I have a feeling that our lives are so full of responsibilities and decisions to make, that it’s important to bring some naughty fun into relationships. And with these cards, we have combined those two things – funny messages and naughty gifts. You probably remember the golden days when your relationship was still new. You kept flirting and had fun, but in a lot of cases, this disappears after a while. These little cards are a great way to remind you that you still have passion and desire for each other.

We have different versions (with 32 different designs and funny messages) of naughty love cards based on the level of the card:

Naughty unisex: Erotic massage, Kisses all over your body, Oral pleasure
Naughty for him: Erotic massage, Striptease, Blowjob
Kinky for him: Tie me up, Spank me, Blowjob + Rim job
Naughty for her: Facesitting, Spank me, Let’s use your favourite toy

Are you working with distributors? Where can retailers buy your games?
We started our project in e-commerce. And just recently, we have entered into some negotiations with distributors, so we are open for collaboration. You can reach us through our OpenMity.com homepage. We are a registered company in the EU (located in Latvia).

Do you already have ideas for new games or other products you can tell us about?
Yes, honestly, we are full of ideas! Slowly, some of them are being realised. Three games are already in the design phase: The “Sex Memory Game” for gay male couples; The “Sex Memory Game” kinky version, and a new game for couples to find out each other’s desires: full of intimate questions, foreplay, sex elements, and as a bonus: intimate scenarios.

And that’s not all; we even have two more products in the development phase: kissable massage candles and a lockable storage box (wooden) for adult toys.

We want every couple’s bond to become stronger, and there is no better way than through the prism of sexual intimacy. That is why we are creating different naughty games for couples that will help them get to know each other better and explore their sexuality. Our motto is “Life is too short not to do it dirty.” We also try to create this mood in our products.