In 1979, Barbara and Michael Jonas had a spat before he left on a business trip. Barbara wanted Michael's homecoming to get beyond their tiff and celebrate all the love in their marriage. But how?

She wrote questions on index cards and designed a rudimentary game board. The evening of Michael's return, she tacked a note to their front door, prepared the living room, and held her breath.

Michael hoped his homecoming would be happier than his departure. He wanted to tell Barbara he loved her, but he'd never been good at expressing his feelings. Then he noticed Barbara's note: "Change into something comfortable, and meet me in the living room."

Intrigued, Michael complied. In the living room, the lights were low and his alluringly-dressed wife handed him a glass of champagne and a stack of index cards. "I was so taken aback," Michael recalls, "I just played along." Exactly as Barbara hoped.

Barbara handed Michael pencil and paper, and asked him to write a secret wish for later that evening. Barbara also penned a wish, and said, "First one around the game board, wins the wish."

Then they took turns rolling dice and moving game pieces. After each move, they drew a card. Some were "talk" cards that asked questions designed to celebrate their relationship: How does your spouse support you? What attracted you to your spouse? Over time, how has your marriage grown more satisfying?

Others were "touch" cards with playful directions: Gently massage your spouse's feet. Kiss your spouse where he or she doesn't expect it.

The Jonases don't recall who won that initial game, but they have vivid memories of the evening they played it. "Barbara's game was very powerful," Michael recalls. "It reminded me of all the positives in our relationship and helped me say all the loving things I'd always wanted to say but couldn't."

"We had a wonderful reunion," Barbara recalls.

The game led to another form of play they enjoyed--in the bedroom.

Barbara shelved her game, thinking they might pull it out occasionally like an old photo album. But Michael couldn't get it out of his mind. He suggested generalizing it--changing "spouse" to "partner" and "marriage" to "relationship"--and sharing it with friends.

"Our friends loved it," he recalls. They urged the Jonases to market it commercially. Eventually they did, dubbing it "An Enchanting Evening."

"An Enchanting Evening" took off. Eventually, the Jonases quit their jobs--Barbara was in marketing, Michael was a lawyer. Today, through their company, Time For Two, they've sold hundreds of thousands.

"What happens in longterm relationships," says Los Angeles couples therapist Lewis Richfield, Ph.D., "is that the romantic magic evaporates, intimacy becomes distance, and sexual frequency declines. ‘An Enchanting Evening' reminds couples why they fell in love, and helps restore intimate closeness and sexual excitement."

"When I first heard about the game," says Palo Alto, California, sex therapist Marty Klein, Ph.D., "I felt skeptical. Most games that claim to build intimacy don't. But my wife and I loved ‘An Enchanting Evening.' It encourages the kind of supportive communication most couples stop sharing after a while. And it shows how intimacy and sensuality can combine for great sex. ‘An Enchanting Evening' helps men discuss their feelings, which gives women the emotional connection they want. And it helps women become aroused, which gives men the responsive lovers they want."

"An Enchanting Evening" is bias-free. It can be enjoyed by young and old, gay and straight, and people in any stage of intimacy from initial infatuation to 50th anniversaries. The "talk" cards all explore loving support. The "touch" cards are deliciously ambiguous. One says "Gently fondle something your partner has two of." Depending on the relationship, that might be feet or breasts. There's no pressure. Couples can play at the level of intimacy that feels right for them.

The Jonases still play "An Enchanting Evening" themselves. "If we've learned anything," Barbara says, "it's that for love and intimacy to flourish, they must be nurtured."

"An Enchanting Evening," is available from timefortwo.com.

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