PnP
Party and play: having sex on drugs, above all crystal meth, often with GHB; the North American name for what the British call chemsex.
PnP stands for party and play: having sex on drugs, above all crystal meth, often with GHB/GBL alongside. "Party" is the drugs, "play" is the sex. It is the North American and Australian name for what the British call chemsex, and on profiles it is a whole message in three letters: I use, I want to use with you, and the sex comes with it.
It does not mean going to a party, and it does not mean a beer and a hookup. If a guy on the apps asks if you "party", he is not asking about your social life.
Where it comes from
Party has long been a polite way of saying "use drugs", and PnP grew up with online cruising: by the early 2010s researchers studying men who met partners on the internet were already describing crystal meth use during sex as what was "commonly termed party and play". With the phone apps it became one of the best-known codes in gay hookup culture. The sociologist Kane Race, writing from inside the Sydney scene, showed how the apps themselves shaped PnP: men negotiated drugs, sex and sometimes HIV status in a few lines of chat before they ever met.
The code
Because the apps ban drug talk, PnP has a whole dialect. Tina, crystal or a capital T in "parTy" mean meth; G means GHB or GBL; "chems", "chill" and "high and horny" all point the same way. Diamonds, snowflakes and other emoji come and go as the platforms catch on. Knowing the code matters if you want to avoid that scene as much as if you want to find it.
The health side
PnP carries the same risks as chemsex, and gay health organizations deal with it the same way: no judgment, real information.
- GHB/GBL: measure the dose, wait at least two hours before the next, never with alcohol.
- Meth: long sessions, little sleep and no food take a toll on body and mind; psychosis, paranoia and dependence are real risks.
- Sex: more partners and longer sessions mean more STIs; PrEP, condoms and testing help, and PEP within 72 hours if you weren't protected.
- Injecting is a step further, called slamming, with its own risks.
If someone passes out and can't be woken, call an ambulance and tell the crew what he took. If PnP is starting to run your life, a sexual health clinic or a chemsex service is the place to start.
Related terms
Sources 3
- Race, Kane. "'Party and Play': Online hook-up devices and the emergence of PNP practices among gay men." Sexualities 18, no. 3 (2015): 253-275. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460714550913
- iCaSH, East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust. "Chemsex." (accessed 19 October 2026). https://www.icash.nhs.uk/sex-and-relationships/chemsex/
- Blackwell, Christopher W., and Sophia F. Dziegielewski. "Using the Internet to Meet Sexual Partners: Research and Practice Implications." Journal of Social Service Research 38, no. 1 (2012): 46-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2011.583842