Great sex is fun and playful, so why not take that a step further and introduce some games into the bedroom? You might want to play it safe and indulge in the conventional, but this can cause your sex life to taper out. Bedroom games can range in scale from involving expensive kits and sex toys to being as simple as requiring just a piece of paper. Here are three ideas to get you started:

The amazing race

This one requires nothing but your time and bodies. All you have to do is lay down next to each other completely naked and masturbate. The game can either be a first-past-the-post race to who can finish first, with the winner getting a special treat next time. Alternatively it can be a game of holding back, who can last the longest – with the person who finishes first then bringing the winner off. This game is great because it feels like foreplay, the opening act to the main event; and it can be. As you both climax, it works great on its own. But there must be some trust involved when playing this game, and you both really have to commit - no faking! It also helps lower inhibitions, build self-confidence, and enables you to learn about what your partner really likes from the way they touch themselves.

The time bomb

This is a great game that takes the idea of foreplay and turns it into something else entirely. All you need is something with a timer or alarm, such as your mobile phone. To start, set it for fifteen minutes and then start kissing, touching, using your mouths, and exploring each other’s bodies. It won’t take you long until you begin to ache for sex, but therein lies the game. You have to restrain yourselves until the alarm sounds. Once you’ve done this a couple of times, extend the time to thirty minutes, forty-five minutes, an hour even. You’ll come to appreciate each other, and foreplay, in a whole different way – but you can always guarantee that when that alarm sounds there’s nothing on earth that could come between you!

Dirty dice

This is a classic, but the tired old ‘blow’, ‘tickle’, ‘caress’, etc., instructions can leave a lot to be desired. The basic idea is to roll two dice, one with a location or body part and the other with an instruction. The person who rolled then has to perform that action. To keep this a little bit more exciting, make your own dice out of paper (it takes less than a minute, find template here), and write your own instructions. These can be as teasingly tame or as fiercely filthy as you wish. One possibility could be to create two dice, one of erogenous zones and one of lengths of time, from ten seconds to two minutes. Roll the dice and then use a massage and gel as indicated on the product.