Title: Where’s Dildo? And 99 Other Mind-Stimulating Puzzles Author: Nerve.com Publisher: Chronicle Books Publish Date: 2008 Pages: 200 Genres:: Games, Compilation, Humor Reviewer: B.I. Laureano

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Bored with word searches, crossword puzzles, and Sudoku?  Have you been nominated to throw a party? Need something to read while in the bathroom? Look no more; Nerve.com has come up with several games to play for many different situations.

As a lover of puzzles of all kinds, and growing up in the era where MadLibs were popular, this little book is one I’ve kept with me since I picked it up. Not only is the text smaller than an average book, at about 5 inches in length and 3.5 inches in width, so it easily fits in my front pocket of my backpack, or inside my purse. It is spiral bound so it’s easy to hold while riding the subway and, if you feel like you need to, can conceal the pages from folks looking over your shoulder.

With five different sections that include Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert, and a section, which lists the Solutions for each puzzle, the folks at Nerve.com have taken the traditional form of game books (starting off easy and building to more difficult content) and modeled it in their own text.

Once you open the book, thick red and white pages will greet you. Follow the stick figures in various sexual positions and begin at “easy.” The book is filled with many of the same type of games, which include mazes, matching personal ads of characters in films, insert-the-word games, guessing games, word searches, hidden dildo games, random trivia, sexdoku, word matching, picture match, sex libs, and crossword puzzles. For each “game” and page there will be a theme underneath the title of the game. For example, one of the first word finds is focused on “Places to Have Sex,” while the first personal ad match focuses on “Swingers.”

As the games and trivia increase in difficulty, they really do get more challenging! I would argue that there is a US-centric focus, so if you are like me and know a lot of things about sexuality around the world and in other languages, that aspect of your knowledge will not be used for this text. I actually didn’t know many answers because I just never found certain films or people of interest. And let’s just admit that US media and images were not all-inclusive when it comes to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and national origin. The trivia in this book is the proof.

I actually considered photocopying parts of the book for an event I had planned and passing them out to participants as an ice breaker, or introductory activity. They are easily adaptable to group activities for those who are feeling competitive, and also play on popular culture with an intellectual twist. Think about what Trivial Pursuit would include if it had a sexuality focus. If that sparks your interest, why not grab Where’s Dildo? and have some fun!