Question 1

How do I find some of the easter eggs on the site?

Accepted Answer

As of this writing, there are 4 easter eggs to find for public users (for map team members, there are achievements that can be hidden). 

If you need hints check out the hints page

Question 2

The event is over. Why is it still showing as live on the map or calendar?

Accepted Answer

Because the Earth is spinning and time zones are, frankly, a little troublesome.

I could ask for your time zone and calculate everything based on that, but doing so would mean storing extra user data just to make the calendar line up correctly. Instead, I take a simpler approach and artificially extend events by 24 hours on both sides. That way, everyone still sees the events that are happening right now, without needing to worry about time zone settings.

Question 3

What is KinkKal?

Accepted Answer

KinkKal is a global directory and interactive calendar for BDSM, fetish, leather, and kink events. We map out large multi-day gatherings, conventions, festivals, and weekenders to help you discover your next great experience.

Question 4

Is KinkKal free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes! KinkKal is a community-driven project. It is completely free for users to browse the calendar, and completely free for producers and organizers to list their events. This will never change. We always want to be a source for people to get information about Kink/BDSM events in their area.

Question 5

What types of events do you list?

Accepted Answer

Currently, our primary focus is on large-scale, multi-day events such as hotel takeovers, conventions, leather title contests, and major festivals. As our database and team grow, our roadmap includes expanding to support smaller regional events, munches, and local dungeon parties. We are trying to keep our focus on kink, BDSM, leather and other such events. We are still debating if we want to support swingers events and other such sex positive events. At this time, we aren't accepting vanilla events even if kinksters are running it just to keep from cluttering up the calendar.

Note: At this time we aren't preventing events such as munches from being listed, but we aren't designing the site to make regularly recurring events easy to maintain.

Question 6

How accurate is your data?

Accepted Answer

We try our absolute best, but with so many events happening globally, we can never guarantee that everything is 100% accurate. Event dates, venues, and details can change! You can help us keep the calendar reliable by submitting corrections here, or by signing up to be a volunteer editor here.

Question 7

Does KinkKal receive a commission or kickback from discount codes on events?

Accepted Answer

No. If an event producer lists a discount code or special offer on KinkKal, 100% of the benefit goes to you. We do not use affiliate links, nor do we receive any commissions, kickbacks, or financial compensation for sharing these discounts on events. Now on our links page, some of those do benefit us financially.

Question 8

Will you have advertisements?

Accepted Answer

Perhaps we will one day. The mobile interface is quite tight so it would be hard to incorporate ads there without a lot of effort. However our hope is that through community donations, this will not be required.

Question 9

How can I support KinkKal financially?

Accepted Answer

At the moment, the only mechanism we have for taking donations is via the links page. Some of those do provide us a small return if you make a purchase. Should you wish to support us directly, please reach out to SwitchJake on FetLife or email [email hidden].

Question 10

How can I get involved or help out?

Accepted Answer

We are always looking for passionate volunteers to help verify dates, tag events with the correct categories, and manage specific geographic regions. If you want to help keep the calendar accurate and up-to-date, click here and look for the link to become an Editor!

But we are open to ideas. If you think you can help us in any way please reach out.  [email hidden]

Question 11

I have an idea for a new feature. How can I suggest it?

Accepted Answer

We'd love to hear your ideas! KinkKal is a community-driven project, and user feedback helps us decide what to build next. If you have a feature suggestion or an improvement in mind, please reach out to SwitchJake directly on FetLife here or email [email hidden].

Question 12

How did KinkKal start?

Accepted Answer

A long time ago, myself and one other started maintaining a google sheet with this info. Sadly that individual passed away. Also updating this sheet was long and tedious. So I set out to make something better.

If you like to see what it once was, check it out here

Question 13

Can I import my events straight from FetLife?

Accepted Answer

No. Due to BitLove's (FetLife's parent company) Terms of Service, direct automated imports, extensions, or scraping tools are strictly prohibited.

However, please see this article about how to export an event from FetLife as an .ics file 
https://fetlife.com/releases/2023-01-10-adding-an-event-to-your-calendar

Question 14

How do I remove my event from your database?

Accepted Answer

If you visit this link

Removal Form

And then select your event from our database and provide a reason, we will be happy to remove it asap. In all cases we try and verify that you are authorized to remove the event from the database however this isn't always possible (ie: your email matches the domain for the event or your reason for removal is valid.)

If you have claimed your event, you can also simply remove all dates from the event and it will disappear from the database. It will then likely get purged when we search for events with no dates.

Question 15

Is there a faster way to submit events?

Accepted Answer

Yes! We support universal calendar file uploads. If you have an event exported as a standard .ics file (used by Google Calendar, Apple, and most event platforms), just drag and drop it into our submission form. It will automatically fill out the name, dates, location, and description for you!

Question 16

How do I add an event to the calendar?

Accepted Answer

Anyone can submit an event! Just click the "Submit Event" button in the top navigation menu or click here. Fill out the form with the event details, dates, and official website. Our volunteer editors will review the submission and add it to the global map.

Question 17

I organize an event. How do I claim and manage my listing?

Accepted Answer

We love working with event producers! If your event is already listed, you can claim it so you have direct control over the information. Please click here. There is an option on that page to claim an event. This will create an account for you, and once approved, you will be able to edit your event at any time.

Question 18

How do I promote my event?

Accepted Answer

Want to make sure your event stands out? Promoted events get premium placement across KinkKal to maximize your visibility. When your event is promoted, it includes:

Top-of-List Placement: Your event is pinned to the very top of the Featured Events section on both the calendar and map pages.
Premium Highlighting: Your listing gets custom gold styling and an exclusive Promoted badge.
Interactive Map Beacon: Your city gets a unique, pulsing gold marker on our global map, drawing immediate attention to your location.

To set up a promotion, email with your event name (or a link to your KinkKal listing) and the dates you would like the promotion to run.

Simple pricing options

Event producers are busy, and small monthly subscriptions can be easy to forget (or frustrating if a card declines and a promo suddenly disappears). To keep things simple and reliable, KinkKal offers these promotion pricing structures:

Option 1: “Run-Up” Flat Fee (recommended)

A one-time fee that covers the most common marketing window leading up to your event.

$25 flat rate: promotion for the 90 days leading up to the event
$40 flat rate: promotion for the 6 months leading up to the event

Option 2: Tiered pricing by event size

Not all events have the same budget, so we offer two simple tiers.

Standard Promotion (example: $10/month or $25 flat): Great for weekenders, munches, and regional parties.
Premium Takeover (example: $25/month or $60 flat): Best for large conventions, and may include an extra perk like a social media shoutout.

Option 3: Community sliding scale

Event promotion starts at $10. If your budget allows, consider contributing $25 to $50 to help support the calendar and keep it running for everyone.

Question 19

I am a vendor or business. How can I partner with KinkKal and be listed on the links page?

Accepted Answer

We love partnering with kink-friendly businesses, makers, and educators! If you have a product or service that benefits the community and would like to be featured on our links page, please reach out to SwitchJake directly on FetLife here or email [email hidden] to discuss partnership and affiliate opportunities.

In the future we will be launching a way for vendors to let attendees know what events they will be at.

Question 20

Can I display KinkKal events on my own website or app?

Accepted Answer

Yes! We believe in open community data. We offer an RSS feed and a structured JSON API that developers can use to pull our event data and display it on other platforms. Click the "Data 📡" dropdown in the main menu to find our endpoints.

In the future we will be supporting widgets and even more ways to display KinkKal in other places.

Question 21

What is KinkKal built with?

Accepted Answer

KinkKal is a completely custom-built web application. The backend is written from scratch in raw PHP to ensure it remains incredibly fast and lightweight without the bloat of heavy frameworks. The database running under the hood is MySQL.

Question 22

What powers the frontend design?

Accepted Answer

The frontend relies on Vanilla JavaScript for high-performance, real-time interactivity (like our instant search and filtering). For styling, we use Tailwind CSS to create a responsive, mobile-friendly, "dark-mode-first" experience that is easy on the eyes.

Question 23

What do you use for the Interactive Calendar?

Accepted Answer

Our calendar is powered by FullCalendar.js. It's customized to automatically detect if you are on a phone or a desktop, seamlessly switching between a monthly grid view and an easy-to-read mobile agenda view.

Question 24

How does the Global Map work?

Accepted Answer

The interactive map is built using Leaflet.js, a leading open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. We use custom dark-themed map tiles provided by Esri to match the site's aesthetic, layered with custom GeoJSON data to draw the country and state borders.

Question 25

Do you use WordPress or a CMS?

Accepted Answer

No. KinkKal is 100% bespoke code. Building the platform from the ground up allows us to implement highly specific community features (like our robust event blocklist, duplicate detection, and dynamic tag filtering) that would be difficult or slow to run on a standard CMS.

Question 26

Is KinkKal open source?

Accepted Answer

While we utilize several amazing open-source libraries (like Leaflet and FullCalendar), the core KinkKal engine is currently closed-source.

Question 27

Can I help write code for KinkKal?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! We are always looking for passionate developers to help build new features and improve the platform. If you'd like to contribute to the codebase, please reach out to SwitchJake directly on FetLife here or email [email hidden].

Frequently Asked Questions

Easter Eggs