The consent game is a slightly silly, somewhat serious card game, based around the idea of asking for consent. You can make it very steamy or keep it very clean, it’s up to you!

The main point is: asking for consent is sexy and fun, and the more you do it, the easier it becomes!

How to play: 2 players

The base game is played with two people. Let’s call them Ashley and River here.

First, determine who is the player for this round will be.. The Player is the person who will be asking for consent. If you can’t decide who the Player will be, the oldest person becomes the Player.

In our example Ashley will be the Player. This is how a round goes:

1. Ashley hands the deck of cards to River.
2. River picks a card (or draws one randomly), and gives it to Ashley, face-down.
3. Ashley turns the card over and looks at the picture.
4. Now, Ashley has to ask River for consent. The consent should always be phrased in the following manner: “May I do X to you?”. The consent has to be based on the picture on the card, but players are allowed to be very creative about how they interpret the picture. Have fun with it!
5. River can now either give consent, or say, “No thank you.”
6. If River did not give consent, Ashley should say, “Thank you for your no”. This ends the round.
7. If River did give consent, Ashley can either perform the action they asked consent for, or answer, “Thank you for your yes”. In both cases, this round is over.
8. Ashley hands the deck to River, and River is now the Player for the second round.

So, how do you win? By having fun. It doesn’t matter whether that’s by making the other player laugh, or by getting to do lots of sexy stuff!

Examples

Let’s clarify the rules a bit more by playing through some example games.

Round 1: Ashley is the Player.

1. Ashley hands the deck to River
2. River looks at the deck, and decides to take it slow. They hand Ashley the card.
3. Ashley turns it over, sees the and goes for the straightforward question.
4. Ashley asks, “River, may I hug you?”
5. River answers, “Yes, you may.”
6. Ashley proceeds to give River a hug, thanks them and hands them the deck of cards.

Round 2: River is the Player

1. River now hands the deck of cards to Ashley
2. Ashley decides to be a bit more brave, and hands River the card, curious what River will do.
3. River looks at the card, thinks for a moment, and asks, “Ashley, may I touch your butt?”
4. Ashley replies “No, not yet. But thank you for asking.”
5. River says, “Thank you for your no” and hands the deck back to Ashley.

Round 3: Ashley is the Player

1. Ashley hands the deck to River
2. River decides to tease Ashley a bit, and hands them the card.
3. Ashley looks puzzled, then asks “May I … ehm … bite you?”
4. River replies “Yes, you may.”
5. Ashley thinks for a moment, but they don’t really like biting people, so they say, “Thank you for your yes,” and hands the deck to River.

The game can go on like this, until one of the players decides to stop.

How to play with more than 2 players

The consent game was originally designed for 2 players, but it can be fun to play in a group too!

Simple version

The simplest way to play in a group, is very similar to how you play with 2 people. The main difference is that after each round the deck gets handed to a new person, and they invite someone else to play the next round with them. The Player may only hand the deck to someone who hasn’t played yet this round. After everybody has had the deck, the round ends.

Chaos rules!

If you want even more laughs, try the chaos rules! In this case, first pick who the Player will be.

Then, all the other people participating give the Player a card. So, if you’re playing with 4 people, the Player will receive 3 cards. The Player then has to ask consent based on the combination of all 3 cards!

So, for example: if the Player gets these cards:

the consent question could be “May I grope your butt while hugging you?”

You’re allowed to coordinate and conspire which cards you hand to the Player!

The Player gets to pick who they ask consent to. They have to pick only one person, but they’re free to pick from all the people that gave them a card.

From this point on, the same rules apply as always: you’re never obligated to give consent, and consent that is given may be used, but the Player also always has the option of just saying, “Thank you for your yes”.

Make up your own rules!

The consent game is deliberately free form, so feel free to play in any way that is fun to you, as long as you keep in mind the main point of the game: asking for consent is sexy and fun, and the more you do it, the easier it becomes!