My father, even though not a tickler, is one of the best ''amateur'' ticklers that I've saw, comparing to other familiars and friends. I have also suffered a lot with him, but saying in a more argumentative way, he has good attention to detail and quite skilled techniques.
Until my teenage years, I saw many times he playing tickle games with my mother, in many of them holding her down. In other moments, I was not in their room, but could hear it from my room or the corridor.
My mother is a beautiful woman with a thin, tough tender and soft, abdominal zone. She abhors tickling with a passion and when mentions it the most common commentary is the ''breathless experience'' as the main reason for her tickling abomination. Her laughter is famous in the family and quite charismatic, I must admit.
It's loud, prolonged and throat like sounded. The continuation of the ''ha-ha'' makes it unusual for her to yell or say things while she's laughing or being tickled, which she also hates.
Her arms are weak, but her legs are stronger. If my father could easily hold my mother's arms with one hand, he usually paid more attention to put her legs out of the game. As he's all about judo-like games and little playtime fights, it's funny to see the immobilization leading to good tickle moments.
Mom's worst spot is the love handles zone. But she is also very ticklish on her central abdominal muscles and bellybutton. My father has some classic sayings for those regions, like "Let's see if the little hole is clean!" and "Nice abs!" when he pokes there. But certainly, the worst tickle method for her in the center of the belly is, without a doubt, blowing raspberries.
Just to stress the belly area as her weak point. But she's ticklish everywhere.
When I look back, I understand that three key factors were absolutely crucial in catching my attention back then and they still fascinate me to this very day.
The first, without a doubt, was my mother. She was notoriously more ticklish than any other woman I've known, which was an easy perception to have even from a very young age. But more than just the fact of her ticklishness, it was that it was explored regularly. It meant I saw a huge range of her reactions, her charismatic laughter, and her genuine desperation, which was really a "wow" sight for a kid. Her laugh is famous in our family, her ticklishness is even more, and I was present for so many moments that were among the most reactive and passionately suffering experiences of her life.
The second factor is my father, who is quite exquisite in this regard because his approach is different from how most people think about tickling. He genuinely, really likes to tickle. He's not a very ticklish person himself, which gives him a natural advantage, and he always tickled both me and my mother throughout their relationship. It would be one thing to say he just likes "judo"-like games and immobilizing people, some dads also do it. But the key is that he is the best amateur tickler I have ever seen in my life. The hand positions, the specific pressure he applies, the raspberries, they are all executed with a terrifying effectiveness. I say this because, for example, one of my uncles might poke my cousin's waist and she can sometimes resist. But when it's my dad, she never can prevent the laughter. I could also provide other similar examples!
That being said, it was the combination of my mother's extreme ticklishness and my father's unique characteristics that created an experience that felt really rare to witness. The fact that his preferred spots to tickle perfectly aligned with her worst ones made it even more impactful. Precisely why I mentioned that his technique is one of the few that gives me real attention to the execution.