He dared me to keep the scarf from the radiator on, and I did, and I still half regret how much I liked it. Before that, I had put a sticky note on the headboard that said veto, in case either of us needed a door that was not an argument.

These dirty truth or dare questions are ones I have actually answered, or watched someone answer, or skipped without a speech. Adults only. If you came here for mean, I will disappoint you. If you came here for a list you can use tonight, stay.

This piece exists because I once said yes to a dare I had not read in my own body first. The scarf was fine. The lack of a veto, earlier in my twenties, was not. I write the skip down now, like a lock.

How to play without it going mean

Two people, or a small room of adults who already like each other. You take turns. Truth or dare. The other person asks. You answer, or you do it, or you veto.

The veto goes on the table first. A sticky note is enough. One skip per person per round is the version I use. You do not have to explain the skip. You do not get punished with a worse question. You just go again, or they go, and the night continues.

I used to treat a skip as a failure of nerve. That made me perform. Performing is how you get a laugh that is not heat, or a silence that is.

Keep the dares in the room you are in. If it needs a street, a stranger, or an audience you have not all agreed to, it is not a dare. It is a different hobby, and the law is not a vibe.

Truths should reveal something you might actually use. “What is your favourite colour” is not dirty. “What do you want me to say next time I have my mouth on you” is. Lines you can steal sit next to this. The question is the prompt. The voice is still yours.

If someone goes quiet in a way that is not turned on, you stop the game. You do not pile on. You pour water. You ask if they want to keep going. That is ordinary, like checking a lock.

Shy works. Start with truths that are specific and kind. Save the filthier dares for when you have both already laughed and nobody is trying to win.

You can play over text. I have. The veto is a message that says skip, not a disappearing tick. Do not screenshot a yes and keep it as leverage. If you drink, the yes still has to be a yes that would stand without the glass.

Then you stop playing and have sex, or you stop playing and go to sleep. The game is not the evening. It is a way into one.

Dirty truth or dare questions: the truths

I have answered these. A few of them I answered badly, then again later with fewer jokes.

  1. What is the first thing you noticed about me that you still think about in bed?
  2. Where do you want my hands first tonight, not in general?
  3. What is a word you like hearing and have never asked for?
  4. When did you last fancy me in a boring room?
  5. What do you pretend not to like that you do like? (I said “being told to stay still.” I had been pretending it was only his idea.)
  6. What do you want me to do with my mouth that I already almost do?
  7. Is there a time of day you want me more, and we keep missing it?
  8. What made you go quiet in a good way, last time?
  9. What made you go polite, last time, and not say?
  10. Which piece of my clothing do you want to take off first, and which should stay?
  11. Do you want the lights on, off, or the coward’s half?
  12. What is a sentence you want me to repeat, even if it is simple?
  13. Where on you am I too gentle, and you have not corrected me?
  14. Where am I too much, and you have been nice about it?
  15. What do you think about when you are alone that you would let me in on?
  16. If I could only touch you in one place for ten minutes, where?
  17. What did you want to happen in the hallway that we saved for the bed?
  18. Is there a position we do out of habit that you would retire for a month?
  19. What would you like me to ask for, out loud, so you do not have to guess?
  20. When you say you are fine, what do you sometimes mean?
  21. What is a no you need me to remember without you repeating it every time?
  22. What is a yes you wish I would offer, instead of waiting?
  23. Do you want more talking, or less, once we have started?
  24. What did someone else do that you liked, that is not a comparison, just data?
  25. What do you want to try once, with a veto ready, and never have to want again if it is bad?
  26. If we had twenty minutes and no pride, what would we do first?
  27. What sound do you like hearing from me that I still swallow?
  28. Do you want to be looked at more, or touched more, on a night like this?
  29. What would you write on a scrap if nobody else would see it?
  30. What should I never joke about in bed, even if I think I am being light?

The dares

In the room. Kind. Stoppable. I have done most of these. The scarf one is in the first paragraph. I am not doing it again as a closer.

  1. Kiss them for a full minute without using your hands.
  2. Take off one thing you do not usually start with.
  3. Describe what you want in one sentence, then do that thing for two minutes.
  4. Put their hand where you want it and keep it there while you kiss them.
  5. Sit on their lap, clothes on, and stay until one of you asks to move.
  6. Whisper one filthy true thing, then a kind one.
  7. Undress them as far as they say yes to, and stop when they say stop.
  8. Let them undress you as far as you say yes to, same rule.
  9. Keep your hands on the headboard, or the wall, for one song, and let them choose the touching.
  10. Wear one thing of theirs for the next ten minutes. (A shirt. Not a joke at anyone’s body.)
  11. Go into the other room and send one text about what you are going to do when you come back. Then come back and do the least embarrassing true bit.
  12. Say what you want using only questions. Three of them.
  13. Kiss from the mouth to the collarbone and do not go lower until they ask.
  14. Turn the lamp to half and tell them what you can see that you like.
  15. Give them a two-minute massage that is allowed to become something else, and do not lunge in the first thirty seconds.
  16. Ask them to talk you through the next five minutes, and follow it.
  17. Ask to be talked through the next five minutes, and listen.
  18. Put a blindfold on (a clean scarf) for one song, then take it off. Ask first.
  19. Keep the scarf on your shoulders, if you want, and tell them why. (This is the one I still think about. The radiator one. I said yes. I would still want the sticky note on the board.)
  20. Show them how you touch yourself for one minute, or guide their hand if showing is a no.
  21. Pick a word you want to hear and make them say it, then say it back.
  22. Start the kind of dirty talk you actually use, three sentences, no film script.
  23. Leave the room, close the door, and come back in as if you have not seen them yet. One line in the hallway first, if you want a light role.
  24. Stay still while they kiss you wherever you have already agreed they can. You can speak. You cannot steer with your hands.
  25. Sit facing them and tell them the next thing you want without looking away.
  26. Take the dare to ask for one specific thing you have only hinted at.
  27. Switch who is in charge of pace for ten minutes. The other person can still say stop.
  28. Write a one-line dare for later in the night, fold it, and do it before you sleep.
  29. Kiss them somewhere you usually skip because you are in a hurry.
  30. End the game on purpose: say “I want you, not another question,” and mean it.

That is sixty. You do not owe the list a complete run. I have never finished a full sixty in one night. We get through a handful and then the sticky note is still there, unused, which is the point of it.

The ones I retired

Dares that were really tests. “Prove you want me by doing the thing you already said is a maybe.” I have been on both sides of that. I do not play it now.

Truths designed to make someone confess a ranking of bodies, exes, or performance. Data is useful. A leaderboard is not a game I will sit for.

Anything that needs a stranger, a window onto a street, or a recording. I like a bit of filth. I like it in a room we both chose.

The dare I said yes to because I did not want to be the difficult one. Not the scarf. An earlier one, in my twenties, that I still will not write out because writing it would be doing it to you. Skip is allowed. Skip is how you stay someone who can say yes later.

Group versions, if the group has not talked. I have watched a table go mean on someone who was trying to be a good sport. Two people is plenty. More people needs a conversation that is not this list.

FAQ

What are good dirty truth or dare questions?

Specific ones, about this night and these two bodies, with a skip already agreed. Where do you want a mouth. What word do you like. What should stay on. A good question is one you might use after the game ends. A bad one is a trap, or a joke at the person answering.

How do you play truth or dare as a couple?

You take turns. You put the veto down first. You keep dares in the room. You stop when someone goes polite for the wrong reason, or when you would rather have sex than another prompt. I play with a note on the headboard so nobody has to invent the word skip while they are already flushed.

Is it okay to skip a dare?

Yes. That is what the veto is for. I skip. I have had people skip mine. If you punish a skip, you are not playing. You are conducting a trial. Draw again, or switch to a truth, or stop.

Can you play over text?

Yes. Send one question at a time. Let them answer or skip. Do not stack three dares while they are in a shop. If you move from text to a photo, that is a new yes. If you are going to meet, stop typing and meet. I have played a short round on the sofa, phones in our hands, and then put the phones down. The good part was still the room.

When you are done, you are done. Go and do the thing you just admitted you wanted.