Seven minutes in heaven

For other uses, see Seven minutes in heaven (disambiguation).

Seven minutes in heaven (or seven minutes in the closet) is a kissing party game played at teenage parties. The game may also be played with a different duration.

The game

Two people are selected to go into a closet or other dark enclosed space and do whatever they like for seven minutes. It is common for the participants to kiss or make out, but they may instead choose to talk, engage in some other (usually quiet) activity, or simply do nothing at all and wait for the time to expire.

The participants can be selected by various methods, such as spinning a bottle, drawing lots, or votes.

History

The game has been recorded as early as 1953.

In popular culture

The game has been played or referenced in movies such as Seven Minutes in Heaven (1985), Teen Wolf (1985), 13 Going on 30 (2004), and Good Luck Chuck (2007). TV or web series to feature the game include the Boy Meets World episode "Fear Strikes Out" (1994), the Family Guy episode "And the Wiener Is..." (2001), the King of the Hill episode "Get Your Freak Off" (2002), the Bernie Mac Show episode "The Talk" (2004), the Paris Hilton's My New BFF episode "You Gotta Have Class" (2008), the web series Mike O'Brien (actor)#7 Minutes in Heaven with Mike O'Brien (2011), the seventh series of Modern Family (2015–16), the Daredevil episode "Seven Minutes in Heaven" (2016), the Everything Sucks! episode "Romeo & Juliet in Space" (2018) and the Little Fires Everywhere episode "Picture Perfect" (2020).

Musical references to the game include the Fall Out Boy song "7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)" (2005) and in the Britney Spears song "Slumber Party" (2016).

Theatrical references to the came include the Steven Levenson play Seven Minutes in Heaven (2009).