Let’s Twist Again! Planning a Twister Swing Party

“Twister, The game that ties you up in knots!” was billed as “sex in a box” by competitors when it was released in 1966. I have no way of reporting how much sex has resulted from Twister in the last 50 years, but I can tell you how to host a silly, sexy Twister swing party!

The Game

We organized the game as a stripping and drinking game. If everyone starts clothed they can “fall” and become a spectator if they get uncomfortable removing clothing. One person is the designated spinner. The size of your mat will determine how many people can be on the mat at once. For our party we had room for about 15 – 20 people on the mat. Everyone else is a spectator, but still actively involved in the game. This works great if someone has a bad back or is not up for stripping.

The rules for regular twister are: 1. Everyone on the mat should be shoeless. You move your hands and feet as directed by the spinner. 2. If you fall or your knees touch the mat you are out. 3. The last person on the mat is the winner.

The additional rules we included are: 1. When the spinner lands on red, you must remove a piece of clothing. You may only lift one hand or foot at a time to remove clothing. Spectators can and are encouraged to help remove clothing, and provide encouragement in the form of kisses, etc. 2. When the spinner lands on blue everyone on the mat does a jello shot. The spectators serve the shots. 3. Sex on the mat is allowable. 4. Everyone wins.

The Basic Space

You'll need an open space that is big enough for your mat and for people to walk around it on all sides. It's best to have a table with drinks or jello shots in the same room. You can put all the shoes and discarded clothing in piles under the table so no one trips on the clothes.

You'll need enough light to see the spinner, but people will be getting naked so you want the lighting to be softer than a basketball court. The same goes for background music, choose something fun and upbeat, but at a level where everyone can hear the colors the spinner calls. We like the station, Crowd Pleasing Dance Mix on Songza. Depending on the crowd, you could also play the Beach Boys or 60's rock. There will be lots of laughing and cheering.

Be sure you have trashcans and paper towels available for any jello spills.

The Mat

Twister mats are about 5.5 feet by 4.5 feet rectangles of heavy plastic. You can plan on 3 to 4 people per mat. For our party we used 6 mats; the completed mat was about 10 feet by 11 feet. You'll need white duct tape and a large space to lay out the mats. I think we used three rolls of tape. When taping the mats together you'll want to overlap the sides so the space between the dots is not too wide. Use 1 length of tape on the front and fold over to the back. Then turn the mats over and reinforce with another length of tape. You want the seams to be completely taped. For six mats we taped 2 sets of three mats together lengthwise and then taped the two sections together.