Sex and relationship expert LaDonna Wright thinks it’s time to give our love lives a good shuffle. As the founder behind The Relationship Nurse, Wright’s sex coaching business, she’s found the hidden secret to opening up to your partner (or partners, depending on how you play) without the stress of reciting your turn-on resume.
Secret VII is an adults-only card game that transcends gender, sexual orientation, and both vanilla and kink play without discriminating between monogamy and open relationships. If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it was dreamed up by an RN with a penchant for sexual healing.
I believe sex games in general have the ability to bring couples closer.
“I am passionate about helping individuals have healthier relationships and lifestyles,” says LaDonna Wright, CEO of The Relationship Nurse sex coaching practice and the Secret VII adult card game brand.
As a registered nurse, Wright worked in critical care and hospice care, where she developed a unique skill-set that would eventually lend itself to her understanding of successful relationships.
One fateful date night with her husband, however, truly put Wright on the map as a master of sex success.
The story behind Secret VII appropriately begins on Valentine’s Day, which also happens to be Wright’s husband’s birthday. In the mood to surprise her hubby with a special night of adult goodness, Wright wandered out to an adult retail shop to peruse her sensual options.
“When I came across the game section,” recalls Wright, “I thought, ‘this is it! This will be fun, this will be romantic, and hopefully arousing.’”
But alas, Wright was in for everything but a satisfactory purchase or a hitch-free evening with her husband.
Wright’s subsequent experience is a cautionary tale to retail managers. Don’t overlook the couples’ game section during staff trainings — unless you’d like your store to take an embarrassing credit for helping invent the next pleasure brand.
“Because I didn’t know anything about any of the games and nothing stood out, I decided to ask the sales clerk for a recommendation or information,” tells Wright. “The clerk didn’t know anything about the games. In fact, she could not even name a game even though [the retailer’s] shelves were full of them. This was so disappointing because the same clerk was very knowledgeable about other products and adult toys in the store.”
After flipping many a box of board games, dirty dice, and adult cards, Wright ended up leaving the store with two games she assumed would suffice in some fashion. As you might have guessed, Secret VII now exists because neither game provided the lusty Valentine’s-slash-birthday escapades Wright had planned.
Ever the intellectual creative, Wright devised her own mash-up of the two lackluster games, which soon became the prototype for what would become Secret VII.
“What happened was I created my own sex game that Valentine’s night, and on another night and another night!” gushes Wright. “We had fun perfecting our game. We were having so much fun that I wanted to share the concept with others.”
Wright shared the game with friends and some close cousins, who confirmed that her new invention was the real deal — and possibly the only real deal in the adult game market at the time. She was surprised to find that not a single couples’ game had amassed the kind of brand recognition or shining consumer reviews afforded to sex toys and other pleasure-providing products.
Sensing a huge void in the market, Wright decided to turn Secret VII into the popular adult game that it is today. And wouldn’t you know it, Wright says that same retail store now regularly sells out of this impressively unique bedroom card game.
Secret VII is a discreet, travel-friendly activity that requires nothing more than the included dice, small timer, and deck of cards. Not even a total lack of sexual imagination can stop this game from challenging your foreplay and communication skills.
“Secret VII brings a new level of excitement to the bedroom with spicy yet competitive game play through acting out one’s desired foreplay acts,” explains Wright. “Game play centers around Secret VII’s library of 400 pleasure cards, colored-coded from mild to wild!”
To begin the game, players choose seven Pleasure Cards — all labeled with detailed sex acts they’d enjoy receiving — that appeal to their partner and remain within their limits. You can sift through the entire deck, or flip through a handful of cards at random to decide which seven cards to add to your hand.
As Wright explains, Secret VII isn’t just designed for lust and pleasure. Players are also tasked with considering their comfort zone and getting orally intimate with their partner — though not only in the way one would assume.
“One of the best things about the Secret VII Adult Game is [that] you get to choose the Pleasure Cards you want performed on you by your partner,” says Wright. “It’s not random, giving each player the chance to communicate exactly what they are in the mood to experience.”
The Relationship Nurse tailored all 400 cards to fit every gender and relationship style. Every sex act is gender-neutral, and there are enough duplicate cards to fit same-sex couples and those who want to play with a group.
Once each player selects their seven Pleasure Cards, they alternate rolling the dice with the aim of landing on a seven or 11. Whoever hits a lucky number on their turn gets to ask their partner to blindly select one of their face-down pleasure cards, which said partner must then perform for two minutes as decided by the audible timer.
“The winner is simply the first person to have all of their seven cards performed on them!” exclaims Wright.
The mission of Secret VII, as it’s likely apparent, dives deeper than a single evening of teasing and pleasing. Wright understands that relationships — as her brand-name title makes clear — need to be nurtured and nursed from top to bottom.
According to Wright, that means talking trumps all when it comes to truly seeing your partner in all their sensual glory.
“Playing Secret VII increases communication between partners as the Pleasure Cards promote exploring different ways to be satisfied, and perhaps, learn something new about how to satisfy your partner,” muses Wright.
Though many of today’s sex toys are intertwined with smartphones, Wright thinks we should all step away from tech for an evening or two and leave the sensual magic-making up to the cards.
“While playing, couples have each other’s undivided attention which builds passion and intimacy,” says Wright. “This is important, especially in today’s world where everyone is distracted by electronics overload and social media.”
Market voids and disappointing retail experiences aside, Wright’s motivation in unleashing Secret VII can be boiled down to the reason she became The Relationship Nurse: “I believe sex games in general have the ability to bring couples closer. These are the essential skills that create the most success.”
