The Story of Lust Between Us: How Two Sleep-Deprived Parents Built a Couples Game from Scratch

We’re a couple who loves playing games together. Board games, card games, drinking games, you name it, we’ve probably tried it. And like a lot of couples, we eventually went looking for something that was just for us. A good game designed to spark intimacy and connection.

We scoured the shelves at stores and the corners of the internet. We tried truth-or-dare spin-offs, endless “Would You Rather” decks, dozens of so-called “sexy” couple games. Some were fun for a night, but most felt outdated, corny, or recycled. After a while, everything blurred together.

So, we did what any game-obsessed couple would do: we made our own.

From Homemade Date Nights to a Big Idea

At first, it was small. We’d play darts, and every number we hit meant answering a cheeky question or taking a drink. We’d play pool with “sexy prizes” attached to each ball. We’d dream up our own prompts and turn them into spontaneous date nights.

One night, lying in bed after another DIY date, we asked each other: What if we actually made a real game - one that other couples could buy and play?

We had no clue what went into creating a game. No design skills. No experience in manufacturing. No roadmap. What we did have was a long list of prompts we knew were better than the tired ones we kept finding in other games.

That was enough to get us started.

Cracking the Formula: How Do You Get Couples to Be Honest?

We poured our ideas into a spreadsheet. Soon, we realized some of them were too advanced for a first game - perfect for couples like us, but not exactly beginner-friendly. So we separated them, saving the really reeeeeally spicy ones for later expansions. Our focus was clear: make the first edition fun, romantic, sexy, and just the right amount of dirty.

But prompts weren’t enough. The big question was: How do you actually get people to open up?

Most adult games use alcohol as a crutch: “Do this, or drink.” And sure, a buzz makes honesty easier, but we didn’t want to make drinking the only way couples could loosen up.

That’s when we came up with Interest Cards. A secret voting mechanic where each player rates a scenario from “Absolutely Not!” to “I’d Love That!” This small twist solved everything. It gave couples permission to be honest without fear of judgment, while keeping the focus on consent, safety, and playful curiosity.

Even after years together, we’d sometimes struggle to admit what we wanted. This mechanic did the hard work for us. It brought up topics that might otherwise stay hidden.

Suddenly, we had a real game.

From Bedroom Idea to Passion Project

Of course, an idea is one thing. Making it real? That’s where things got messy. We bought Photoshop and Illustrator and taught ourselves how to design cards and the box.

We brainstormed names for months, rejecting dozens because they were either taken or absurdly expensive to buy the web domain (I think one was over $50,000). Finally, we landed on Lust Between Us, and it just clicked.

Our DIY logos were terrible, but they had a spark.

Eventually, after months of late nights and YouTube tutorials, we realized we needed professional help. We hired artists who turned our half-baked sketches into a polished look worthy of a store shelf.

At that point, this wasn’t a hobby anymore. It was a passion project. We devoured books, podcasts, and studies on sex, relationships, art, business, and anything adjacent. We worked our 9-to-5 jobs, put our toddler to bed, and then stayed up until 3 a.m. refining scenarios, researching printers, and teaching ourselves e-commerce.

After six months, we had a prototype - printed in black and white on our old home printer, because we couldn’t afford color ink. But seeing those cards in our hands was surreal.

The Brutal Business of Making a Game

Reality hit fast. A single professional pre-production sample cost us $1,000. Yeah, 1k for one game... but it was beautiful.

Actual production runs would be significantly cheaper, but only if we ordered tens of thousands of copies, which was impossible for us.

Then came the tariffs. Prices skyrocketed overnight. It felt like the dream was over before it began.

But fate intervened. Through networking, we met a successful Amazon seller who showed us that tariffs weren’t the end; they were just a new hurdle that we could overcome. He introduced us to new suppliers, taught us the ropes of Amazon, and gave us the confidence to keep going.

Still, nothing came easy. We had suppliers who botched orders. Artists who didn’t get our vision. Amazon glitches that deleted our listings. Barcodes that locked us out of our own product. Every step forward felt like two steps back.

We didn’t have the money for lawyers, so we reached out to law schools and had student clinics help us file trademarks. We couldn’t afford pro product photos, so we learned how to do them ourselves. We fought with inspection companies, got labs to test our inks for heavy metals, and learned to navigate customs, freight forwarders, and consumer compliance reports.

It was trial by fire.

Watching Our Dream Cross the Ocean

Eventually, production wrapped. Our freight company loaded the games onto three ships bound for the U.S. We tracked them obsessively every day.

When news broke that a container ship had spilled its cargo in Long Beach, on a boat that looked just like ours, we almost lost it. We hadn’t bought insurance (rookie mistake). For an hour, we thought our entire savings had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Thankfully, it wasn’t our ship. But we’ll never skip insurance again.

Finally, after inspections, customs, and what felt like a thousand emails, our game arrived at Amazon warehouses and at our front door.

Worth Every Sleepless Night

Holding the final version of Lust Between Us in our hands was indescribable. What started as a silly bedroom idea had turned into a real, physical product.

The journey taught us more than we ever expected: design, logistics, negotiation, trademarks, e-commerce, marketing - you name it. We poured our savings, our energy, and countless sleepless nights into this game.

Was it worth it?

We think so. Because if Lust Between Us helps couples laugh, connect, and talk about their desires more openly, even just a little, then every single late night was absolutely worth it.