The Safer Sex Shuffle is a casual digital board game to teach teenagers about safer sex practices. Safer Sex Shuffle was built in collaboration with Kaho Abe and Sarah Schoemann in the experimental Twelve programming language. Its production was funded by the 2013 Games For Change/sexetc.org Game Design Prize.
The game uses established casual game mechanics to communicate the importance of safer sex practices. Players connect body parts into sequences of safe sexual activity, but any pairing that is unsafe results in a penalty. The cartoonish aesthetic is meant to create a comfortable space around an often clinical and awkward topic.
The body parts are drawn in different shapes and sizes and against yellow and pink backgrounds to as to make no assumptions about the bodies or races of the players. The safer sex practices the game recognizes are agnistic to sexual orientation, and the optimal move in the game could involve a sexual activity the player does not normally think about.