nickel for every kiss, a quarter for oral sex and a dollar for sex - that was the ante for the jackpot.

“My roommates came to me with this idea that we give monetary value for each sexual activity we are involved in,” explains 21-year-old Grace* matter-of-factly. The girls kept a sign-in sheet hidden behind the cans of SpaghettiOs and chicken noodle soup in their dorm kitchen. After every sexual encounter, each girl would record her name, the boy’s name (if she could remember it), the location, date, type of activity and money owed. The other girls would then pay up by placing the appropriate amount of money into a plastic jar known as “The Bank.” “The girl who raised the most money at the end of the semester won the pot and received the ‘Ho of the Year’ award,” says Grace, a junior in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Grace, who came to UF three years ago as a virgin, quickly was introduced to a “whole other world.”

“At first I was wary of the whole bank idea, but as time went on it seemed natural,” she says with a laugh. “It was a good system to keep track of the guys I had been with.”

That semester, The Bank raised a whopping $35, which may not seem like a lot of money, but at a nickel, a quarter and a dollar a pop, it adds up to a lot of sexual activity. As more and more of their friends began looking for “the sheet,” the game quickly became a legend.

At a time when health surveys show that more than 85 percent of college students have had sexual intercourse, it’s no big surprise that UF students are sexually active. But some seem to be turning sex into a contact sport, competing with their peers to see who can be the most sexually active. Unfortunately, if the players aren’t careful, the winner’s spoils can also include sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy, and plenty of other heartaches.